# Balázs Orbán (politician)

Balázs Orbán (Hungarian:; born 13 February 1986) is a Hungarian lawyer, university professor, and politician, who has been serving as Political Director of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (with whom he has no relation) since 2021 and member of the National Assembly since 2022. From 2018 to 2022, Orbán was Deputy Minister, and Parliamentary and Strategic State Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office.
Since 2018, he has served as chairman of the Advisory Board at the University of Public Service, and since 2020, he has been the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mathias Corvinus Collegium.

## Early life

Orbán was born in Budapest on 13 February 1986. Between 1998 and 2004 he studied at the ELTE Apáczai Csere János High School and Boarding School in Budapest. Between 2004 and 2009 he was a law student at the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law, where he obtained Juris Doctor with summa cum laude. Between 2007 and 2011 he obtained a BA degree in political science at the same institution. Since 2009, he has been a PhD student at the Doctoral School of the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law, where he is currently pursuing his doctoral studies. Between 2013 and 2014 he was a student at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Science, where he obtained an LL.M. degree in legal regulation in public administration.
Orbán passed the following professional qualification examinations:
* Public registrar examination (2009)
* Public administration competitive examination (2010)
* Public administration examination (2011)
Orbán speaks English at a professional level and German at an intermediate level.

## Career

After obtaining his degree, Orbán worked as a legal advisor in the Ministry of Justice between 2009 and 2012, performing legislation codification and law preparation tasks.

### Teaching career

Orbán has taught at various universities and colleges since graduating from university, and since 2015 he has been an assistant professor at the National University of Public Service. He has been teaching at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium since 2015, where he also serves as the chairman of the Board of Trustees.

### Research career

In 2012, he joined the Századvég Foundation, a conservative think tank, as a regulatory expert. He became the foundation's research director in 2013, managing and coordinating public law and public policy research until 2018.
During these years he often appeared in the media, and his analyses were published regularly in various daily and weekly newspapers. Between 2016 and 2018, he was a Member of the Board of the Századvég Foundation. In 2015 he became the first director of the Migration Research Institute, a new think tank established by the Századvég Foundation and Mathias Corvinus Collegium. He held this position until his appointment as state secretary in 2018.

### Political career

From 22 May 2018, Orbán has been deputy minister and parliamentary and strategic state secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister. In addition to parliamentary representation, his responsibilities include the development of government strategy, and incorporating the most important scientific findings of various domestic and foreign research institutes into the processes of government strategy and legislation.
Since 2018, Orbán has been the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the National University of Public Service, where he is also responsible for the development and modernization of the university.
Since August 2021, Orbán has been serving as political director under Viktor Orbán, advising the Prime Minister on political, social, economic, public policy, and other matters. Additionally, he coordinates the work of the Prime Minister's advisers.
Following his appointment on 25 May 2022, he continued his tenure as political director in the Fifth Orbán Government, expanding his role of assisting the decision-making of the Prime Minister. Orbán is responsible for the preparation of necessary background materials, briefings, and analyses related to the Prime Minister's work, coordinating his international activities, as well as monitoring general political, strategic, foreign policy, and public policy aspects of government decision-making and decision preparation.
Orbán has been serving as MP since the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election.
On 25 April 2023, he was appointed to oversee the Institute of International Affairs think tank, which aims to support the strategic decision-making in the Hungarian foreign policy.

## Views

Orbán has criticised Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, describing it as "irresponsible". In 2024, he said that Hungary would not resist a hypothetical Russian invasion, citing the Soviet crackdown of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Gabor Török called this the “biggest political mistake of the year”.

## Personal life

Orbán is married, and has two children.

## Works

Orbán's scientific and political articles and analyses are frequently published in a range of online and printed newspapers and journals, his scientific publications primarily focus on the field of constitutional law. From 2018 to 2020, he was the columnist responsible for a legal affairs column entitled 'Precedens' in the Hungarian newspaper Mandiner.

### Books

* Orbán, Balázs (2020). A magyar stratégiai gondolkodás egyszeregye (in Hungarian). Budapest: Mathias Corvinus Collegium–Tihanyi Alapítvány. ISBN 978-615-6221-01-8.
* Orbán, Balázs; Szalai, Zoltán, eds. (2019). Ezer éve Európa közepén: A magyar állam karaktere (in Hungarian). Translated by Rácz, Katalin. Budapest: Mathias Corvinus Collegium–Tihanyi Alapítvány. ISBN 978-615-80718-6-4.
* Mernyei, Ákos; Orbán, Balázs, eds. (2021). Magyarország, 2020: 50 tanulmány az elmúlt 10 évről (in Hungarian). Budapest: MCC Press Kft. ISBN 978-615-6221-02-5.
* Szalai, Zoltán; Orbán, Balázs, eds. (2021). Der ungarische Staat: Ein interdisziplinärer Überblick (in German). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Springer. ISBN 978-3658276157.
* Orbán, Balázs (2021). The Hungarian Way of Strategy (in Hungarian). Budapest: MCC Press Kft. ISBN 978-615-6351-13-5.
** Orbán, Balázs (27 October 2021). The Hungarian Way of Strategy. Translated by Sneddon, Thomas. Budapest: MCC Press. ISBN 978-6156351135.