Hungarian Socialist Party
Which party was Ferenc Gyurcsány a member of between Jul 1983 and Apr 1987?
Ferenc Gyurcsány Ferenc Gyurcsány ( ; born 4 June 1961 ) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and politician . He was Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009 . Prior to that , he served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports between 2003 and 2004 . He was nominated as Prime Minister by the Hungarian Socialist Party ( MSZP ) on 25 August 2004 , after Péter Medgyessy resigned due to a conflict with the Socialist Partys coalition partner . Gyurcsány was elected Prime Minister on 29 September 2004 in a parliamentary vote ( 197 yes votes , 12 no votes , with most of the opposition in Parliament not voting ) . He led his coalition to victory in the 2006 parliamentary election , securing another term as Prime Minister . His legitimacy was permanently questioned by opposition parties based on his withholding of information about the actual budget deficit in his 2006 re-election campaign . He was also criticised for using derogatory terms for his own country in his speech in Balatonőszöd . After that speech became public , demonstrations started on the streets of Budapest where many people were injured , both demonstrators and policemen . On 24 February 2007 , he was elected as the leader of the MSZP , taking 89% of the vote . On 21 March 2009 , Gyurcsány announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister . He stated that he was a hindrance to further economic and social reforms . President László Sólyom stated that instead of a short-term transactional government ruling only until the 2010 elections , early elections should be held . On 28 March 2009 Gyurcsány resigned from his position as party chairman . A minister under Gyurcsány , Gordon Bajnai , became the nominee of MSZP for the post of Prime Minister in March 2009 and he became Prime Minister on 14 April . In October 2011 , Gyurcsány and other party members quit the MSZP to establish the Democratic Coalition ( DK ) under his leadership . Early years . Gyurcsány was born in Pápa , Hungary , into an impoverished middle-class family as the only son of Ferenc Gyurcsány Sr . and Katalin Varga . He has an elder sister , Éva . According to contemporary police documents , Gyurcsánys father was convicted on charges of minor crimes ( low value thefts and fraud ) multiple times . Due to his fathers alcoholism , Gyurcsány spent his childhood in poor conditions , though his mothers thrifty family management provided orderly and healthy living standards . Gyurcsány attended Apáczai Csere János High School in Budapest for two years ; he then returned to Pápa and continued his studies there , at a local grammar school . In 1979 , he was admitted to the University of Pécs , where he studied as a teacher and obtained his B.Sc . in 1984 , then he studied economics at the same institution , getting his university degree in 1990 . In 1981 , he assumed function in the KISZ , the Organisation of Young Communists , where he mostly handled organizing student programs at the beginning . Between 1984 and 1988 , he was the vice president of the organisations committee in Pécs . Then between 1988 and 1989 , he was the president of the central KISZ committee of universities and colleges . After the political change in 1989 , he became vice-president of the organisations short-lived quasi successor , the Hungarian Democratic Youth Association ( DEMISZ ) . From 1990 onwards , he transferred from the public to the private sector , working for CREDITUM Financial Consultant Ltd . until 1992 , serving as director of EUROCORP International Finance Inc . in 1992 . Gyurcsány then took the position of CEO at Altus Ltd. , a holding company of which he was owner , from 1992–2002 and thereafter as Chairman of the Board . By 2002 , he was listed as the fiftieth-richest person in Hungary . Return to politics . Gyurcsány returned to politics in 2002 as the head strategic advisor of Péter Medgyessy , the previous Prime Minister of Hungary . From May 2003 until September 2004 Gyurcsány was a minister responsible for sports , youth and children . He became the president of the MSZP in Győr-Moson-Sopron county in January 2004 , serving until September 2004 . In the summer of that same year it seemed that there were larger problems in his relationship with Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy , so he resigned as minister . In a week , problems in the coalition led to the resignation of Medgyessy , and MSZP voted Gyurcsány to become Prime Minister as he was acceptable for the coalition partner , Alliance of Free Democrats ( SZDSZ ) . Prime Minister . Gyurcsány was reappointed as prime minister after the 2006 parliamentary elections , with his coalition taking 210 of the available 386 parliamentary seats , and making him the first Hungarian prime minister to keep the office after a general election since 1990 . On 24 February 2007 , he also became the leader of his party ( being the only candidate for the post ) , gaining 89% of the votes . However , soon after the election victory serious financial problems arose . His government was forced to implement austerity measures to somehow manage the budget deficit , which was much higher than expected and had grown to an almost 10% of the GDP by the end of 2006 . These measures were heavily criticized by both the opposition , lead by Fidesz , as being too harsh on the people , and by liberal economists , for not reducing spending enough on social benefits , including pensions . Gyurcsány was the first prime minister since the fall of communism to try to introduce a health care reform in order to rationalize and modernize the national health care system . His efforts for a renewed and more efficient health care however , have been undermined mainly by his own party , as many Socialist Party members regard this reform as a threat to the communist-era achievement of free and equal health care service to all . The Őszöd Speech and the resulting riots . On 17 September 2006 , an audio recording surfaced , allegedly from a closed-door meeting of the Prime Ministers party MSZP , held on 26 May 2006 , shortly after MSZP won the election . On the recording , Gyurcsány admitted we have obviously been lying for the last one and a half to two years . ( Nyilvánvalóan végighazudtuk az utolsó másfél-két évet. ) . Despite public outrage , the Prime Minister refused to resign , and a series of demonstrations started near the Hungarian Parliament , swelling from 2,000 to about 8,000 demonstrators calling for the resignation of Gyurcsány and his government for several weeks . The Prime Minister admitted the authenticity of the recording . On 1 October , the governing party suffered a landslide defeat in the local municipal elections . On the eve of the elections , before the results were known , President László Sólyom gave a speech in which he said that the solution to the situation is in the hands of the majority in Parliament . Vote of confidence . As Prime Minister , Gyurcsány was a strong advocate of the South Stream pipeline project , which aimed to supply Russian gas directly to the European Union ( EU ) , bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine . He signed the contract in Moscow just a week before the popular election in Hungary , which showed around 80% of the votes were against the government reforms . On 6 October 2006 , Gyurcsány won a vote of confidence in Parliament , 207–165 , with no coalition MP voting against him . The vote was public . Resignation . On 21 March 2009 , Gyurcsány announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister . He stated that he was a hindrance to further economic and social reforms . Gyurcsány asked his party to find a new candidate for prime minister in two weeks . President László Sólyom stated that instead of a short-term transactional government ruling only until the 2010 elections , early elections should be held . In the search for a new prime minister , György Surányi became the frontrunner candidate for the post ; however , on 26 March he pulled out of the race . On 28 March , Gyurcsány resigned from his position as party chairman . Career after premiership . In the 2010 parliamentary elections he was elected into the Parliament still as a member of MSZP , but he became more and more critical of the partys politics . Since his attempts at reforming the party failed , he left MSZP and founded a new party , the Democratic Coalition ( Demokratikus Koalíció , DK ) in October 2011 . As a leader of DK , he announced that his party will support Gordon Bajnai as a candidate for prime minister in 2014 . In September 2012 , the ruling Fidesz proposed a voter-registration plan , which , according to the opposition , would have restricted the right to vote . Gyurcsány and three other members of his party participated in a week-long hunger strike against the proposal . Later , in January 2013 , the Constitutional Court of Hungary struck down the new electoral law as unconstitutional ; after that decision , Fidesz caucus dropped the law . Gyurcsány referred to that act as his partys success . On 14 January 2014 , the Democratic Coalition and four other groups founded Unity , a political alliance with the aim of defeating Fidesz at the elections in the spring . The alliance made it into the Parliament , but only as opposition . DK won only four seats , which meant that since they were below the minimum requirements of forming a parliamentary group ( five seats ) , its MPs ( including Gyurcsány ) officially count as independent politicians . On 8 April 2018 , the Democratic Coalition win 9 seats , creating now a political group in the National Assembly . Personal life . Gyurcsány is currently married to his third wife . He has two sons ( Péter and Bálint ) from his second marriage with Edina Bognár , and three children ( Anna , Tamás and Márton ) from his third marriage . His spouse is Klára Dobrev , whose maternal grandfather Antal Apró was Hungarys Minister of Industry in the 1950s–60s . He got his nickname Fletó from one of his teachers . While Prime Minister of Hungary , he did not pick up his paycheck , but instead , he donated it to varying organizations . Criticism . Wealth . The origin of his wealth is regularly questioned by the media and political opposition . The weekly paper HVG writes about a biography of Gyurcsány : [ it ] concludes that talent played a greater role than corruption in Gyurcsánys success . We have to question this claim . Not just because former functionaries are massively overrepresented among Gyurcsánys business partners , but also because , despite his enormous talent for business , Gyurcsány would never have got where he is today without making use of the contacts and support base of the former state party . József Debreczeni , the biographer in question , originally reached the conclusion regarding party connections and performance , the latter has been more important . Opposition MP Péter Szijjártó , as the head of a committee set up to investigate the origins of Gyurcsánys wealth , stated in his report that one of Gyurcsánys companies leased the former vacation site of the Hungarian government in Balatonőszöd and rented the site back to a state-owned company so that the rent paid by the government covered exactly the leasing fee during the first two and a half years of the ten-year lease term ( 1994–2004 ) . A person named Gyurcsányi was mentioned by Attila Kulcsár , the main defendant in the high-profile K&H Equities money laundering scandal in Hungary . The prime minister denied he had any connections with the case . Plagiarism controversy . In an article published on 2 April 2012 , Pécsi Újság called into question whether Gyurcsány submitted a diploma thesis . István Geresdi , Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Pécs told Pécsi Újság that they were unable to find Gyurcsánys diploma thesis . He further added that Gyurcsánys thesis was the only missing work from that time period . On 3 April Gyurcsány published a page from his course record book that stated that he submitted and defended a college thesis . He also stated that he did not know where his own copy of his thesis was , but he would make efforts to locate and publish it . After two weeks , on 13 April he announced that he failed to find his copy of the thesis . On 27 April Hír TV , a government-leaning television channel announced that they have found evidence that Szabolcs Rozs , who was Gyurcsánys brother-in-law in 1984 , submitted a college thesis at the same college and department as Gyurcsány , with a title identical to Gyurcsánys work , in 1980 . Three days later , on 30 April Hír Tv announced that they have located and compared the reviews of both Rozss and Gyurcsánys work , and found that based on the common errors and omissions , the two texts are likely to be identical , supporting the allegations of plagiarism . Other . He often displays himself in the role of an anti-fascist politician , who is strongly against the Hungarian radicalism and anti-semitism . However , he is the subject of criticism by his political opponents for the luxury villa of Rózsadomb in which he lives and is now the property of his recent wife , having been taken away from a Jewish family twice ; first it was misappropriated when Hungary was under the rule of Arrow Cross Party , and then again during the time of the communist dictatorship of Mátyás Rákosi . On 2 September 2004 , he said in the Hungarian national television : Who has a two-room-apartment , would in general deserve three ; who has three , four ; who has four , a house . Who has an eld... , olderly , elderly?.. . olderly [ struggling with an unintended portmanteau ] wife , a younger one ; who has a badly behaved kid , a well-behaved . Of course , he would deserve . This triggered outrage from feminist organisations , women in general , and the opposition . On 2 February 2005 , at the birthday party of the Hungarian Socialist Party , for the sake of a joke , Gyurcsány referred to the players of the Saudi national football team as terrorists . Later he apologized , but the kingdom recalled its ambassador from Hungary for a time . During the 2006 general election campaign , a video appeared where Gyurcsány danced as Hugh Grant in Love Actually . According to government officials , the spokesperson of the government asked Gyurcsány to dance , as they re-made most parts of the film as a special gift for the wedding of spokesman András Batiz . Opposition claimed that the video was made public on purpose , as part of the election campaign , to gain popularity for the PM among young adults . After his return to politics , Gyurcsány was at first tight-lipped on his religious affiliation , leading many to assume that he is an atheist . In an interview aired on TV2 during the 2006 parliamentary election campaign , Gyurcsány said that as a teenager , he took part in confirmation for about two years and even considered becoming a priest . Since confirmation can only be taken once , some regarded this claim as a giveaway that he was not telling the truth , while others such as Catholic bishop Endre Gyulay supposed he meant he took part in preparations for a confirmation . In connection with the unrest fuelled by his speech , he has been criticised in The Economist for turning a blind eye to police brutality . On 13 January 2009 , Dominique Strauss-Kahn , the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund , travelled to Budapest to ask Gyurcsány about their agreement made in October , regarding the stabilization of Hungarian government spending . Gazprom . As a Prime Minister , Gyurcsány was said to be an advocate of the South Stream pipeline project , which is aimed to supply Russian gas directly to the EU , bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine . He signed the contract in Moscow just week before a referendum at Hungary , which showed around 80% of the votes were against the government reforms . However , the questions of the referendum ( two concerning health care and one concerning education ) had no relation to the issue of possible pipelines built in the country . Gyurcsány stated that it is an unlucky situation for a country to have only one supplier ( Russia ) of any resource , which in this particular case is natural gas . He said the South Stream pipeline only diversifies routes from the same source country . He also advocated the Nabucco Pipeline which was planned to transfer gas from the Middle-East , as he considered this as a pipeline which diversifies the source of natural gas also . External links . - Hungarian PM appears on Internet as Hugh Grant - The page of the Demokratikus Koalíció party - His biography - The 100 richest people in Hungary , 2002. , origo.hu . ( Original URL )