Péter Medgyessy

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The native form of this personal name is Medgyessy Péter. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Péter Medgyessy
Medgyessy in 2014
Prime Minister of Hungary
In office
27 May 2002 – 29 September 2004
PresidentFerenc Mádl
Preceded byViktor Orbán
Succeeded byFerenc Gyurcsány
Member of the National Assembly
In office
15 May 2002 – 15 May 2006
Minister of Finance
In office
1 March 1996 – 8 July 1998
Prime MinisterGyula Horn
Preceded byLajos Bokros
Succeeded byZsigmond Járai
In office
30 December 1986 – 16 December 1987
Prime MinisterGyörgy Lázár
Károly Grósz
Preceded byIstván Hetényi
Succeeded byMiklós Villányi
Personal details
Born (1942-10-19) 19 October 1942 (age 81)
Budapest, Hungary
Political partyMSZMP (until 1989)
Independent (1989–present)
SpouseKatalin Csaplár
Children3
ProfessionEconomist
Websitewww.medgyessy.hu

Péter Medgyessy (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈmɛɟːɛʃi ˈpeːtɛr] ⓘ; born 19 October 1942) is a retired Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 27 May 2002 to 29 September 2004.[1] On 25 August 2004, he resigned over disputes with coalition partner Alliance of Free Democrats, but remained as acting prime minister for a 30-day period as required by the Constitution, and a few additional days until his successor Ferenc Gyurcsány was confirmed by the National Assembly.[2][3]

Family and studies

Medgyessy was born into an old Transylvanian noble family in Budapest on 19 October 1942. An ancestor of the family, Miklós Medgyessy de Medgyes, worked as a penman for Prince Gabriel Bethlen in the 17th century. Medgyessy's father, Béla Medgyessy, was a recorder in the General Assembly of Cluj until the Second Vienna Award, when Hungary reassigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from the Kingdom of Romania. The family moved to Budapest, where Béla worked for the Ministry of Domestic Trade. Medgyessy's mother Ibolya Szolga was an interpreter.[4]

Medgyessy studied theoretical economics at the Corvinus University of Budapest (then called Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences).[5] He graduated in 1966, and returned to receive his doctorate. He is fluent in French and Romanian, and knowledgeable in the English and Russian languages.[5]

He is married to Katalin Csaplár, and has a daughter and son born in 1969 and 1970, respectively, from a previous marriage. His adopted child is Anita Tornóczky, a well-known anchorwoman in Hungary.[6]

Political career

Early career

Between 1966 and 1982, he held various senior positions in departments of the

two-tier banking system and banking reform.[4] He was replaced by Miklós Villányi
on 16 December 1987.

Medgyessy and Péter Bacsó in 1994, Balatonszárszó

Between 1987 and 1990, Medgyessy was Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in the Grósz and Miklós Németh cabinets. He brought the law of new capitalist-style tax system to the National Assembly of Hungary. Besides the ministerial position, Medgyessy was also elected a member of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party. After the dissolution of the ruling communist state party in October 1989, he did not join the newly-founded successor organization, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP).[4]

After the

chairman of various Hungarian banks, including Paribas Bank Inc. and Hungarian Investment and Development Bank. After Gyula Horn took over the Hungarian government in 1994, Medgyessy was appointed head of the premier's Advisory Board before returning to his previous position as minister of finance, in March 1996, when he replaced Lajos Bokros, who resigned after the controversial Bokros package. After his term ended, he became the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Inter-Europa Bank, and vice president of Atlasz Insurance Company from 1998 to 2001. He also taught at College of Finance and Accountancy (now Budapest Business School) for 15 years beside bank official positions. He served as president of the Hungarian Economic Association.[4]

He received the Commander's Cross with a Star of the

Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
in 2000.

Prime Minister of Hungary

Medgyessy and SZDSZ leader Gábor Kuncze, 3 October 2001

The MSZP nominated him as their non-partisan candidate for prime minister during the seventh congress of the party in June 2001, after Németh and MP Sándor Nagy had withdrawn from nomination. The party won the 2002 elections against Fidesz and incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by a small majority, and on 27 May 2002, the Hungarian Parliament elected Medgyessy as the new Prime Minister of Hungary.[5]

Medgyessy with President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski, 20 July 2004.

Magyar Nemzet, a newspaper affiliated with Fidesz, revealed in June 2002 that Medgyessy had been acting as a counterespionage officer under the code name D-209 in the III./II. section of the then-Ministry for Internal Affairs prior to 1989. He admitted to being a secret agent, saying that in the line of duty, he strived to secure Hungary's membership in the International Monetary Fund, which the Soviet Union was opposed to. Under the circumstances, this sparked controversy all over the country.[7] At first, leaders of the coalition partner Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) had expressed their support for Medgyessy's dismissal as Prime Minister, but the Socialists persuaded them to let Medgyessy stay in office. In response, János Kis, the founding president of SZDSZ, left the party in July 2002, referring to the SZDSZ's decision as being in conflict with his moral values. In the aftermath of these events, demonstrators blocked traffic across the Elisabeth Bridge and demanded that a new tally of the parliamentary election results be conducted.[citation needed]

Medgyessy with U.S. President George W. Bush on 15 July 2004 at White House

One of the main campaign promises of MSZP was "The Welfare System Change". To implement it, the

approval rating was the highest, and the government consequently adopted a second 100-day program afterwards.[8] According to later critics, the two programs caused an excess spending of HUF 817 billion in the state budget, while, according to a 2009 report from the State Audit Office, the total annual cost of the housing subsidies rose from roughly HUF 50 billion (EUR 184.14 million) a year in 2000 to HUF 255 billion (EUR 939.14 million) in 2005.[9]

Under Medgyessy's prime ministership, a referendum was held on 12 April 2003 to decide if Hungary should join the European Union. All of the major political parties in Hungary, the trade unions, business organisations, churches and media were in favour of Hungary's membership of the EU.[10]

In early 2004, Medgyessy proposed a joint electoral list with the participation of all parliamentary parties for the European Parliament election. His idea was rejected by SZDSZ and all opposition parties,[11] but during a meeting of leaders of the four parliamentary groups, all parties agreed to a "national minimum", which included partnerships and contacts in the European organizations.[12] The European Parliament also called Medgyessy's proposal "anti-democratic" in March 2004.[13] In the July 2004 elections, the Hungarian Socialist Party was heavily defeated by Fidesz. Afterwards, Medgyessy gradually lost support of the MSZP-SZDSZ alliance. Word got around MSZP that the party could not win another parliamentary election with him against Viktor Orbán, meanwhile Ferenc Gyurcsány who then was a minister responsible for sports, youth and children in his government, came forward as a potential candidate for prime minister.

Before his resignation, he had fallen out with the SZDSZ, accused them of being involved in corruption cases, and was about to relieve SZDSZ delegate Minister of Economy István Csillag from duty. In response, SZDSZ withdrew its support for him, after which he declared his resignation to prevent a parliamentary motion of no confidence. The MSZP accepted his resignation, which took effect on 25 August, and in accordance with the Hungarian Constitution he became "acting Prime Minister" for the next 30 days. In the meantime his successor, Ferenc Gyurcsány, acted on his behalf. Medgyessy stepped down as prime minister in August 2004 and was succeeded by Gyurcsány.[14]

Controversies

Medgyessy was ridiculed by certain segments of the Budapest press because of his allegedly weak rhetorical abilities; a book titled Medgyessyizmusok (Medgyessyism, in analogy to Bushism) appeared in 2004.[15]

Medgyessy with Vladimir Putin

In response to Hungarian exporters' interests, he decided[

National Bank of Hungary.[citation needed
]

Fulfilling the promise of the "change of welfare regime", the slogan of his campaign in the 2002 elections, the Medgyessy government increased the wages of civil servants by 50%, and increased allowances for university students and pensioners. Pensioners also received a one-time pension supplement. Economists criticised this move, calling it an irresponsible drain on the budget that amounted to nearly 190 billion forints,[16] and hypothesised it was done purely to increase the administration's popularity.[17]

During Medgyessy's prime ministership, political attacks were launched against some independent senior civil servants who had been appointed by the Orbán cabinet. Court rulings subsequently established that the head of the Hungarian Energy Office and the chairman of the Hungarian Statistical Office were removed from their positions unconstitutionally and illegally. The chief of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority was removed without legal challenge, though without any material basis related to his performance in office.[18][19]

Medgyessy was also a co-signatory of

U.S. position on Iraq.[20]

Life since government

After his resignation, he continued to serve as a Member of Parliament as a travelling ambassador "to make sure Hungary can become a successful member of the most important international alliances including the European Union".[citation needed] He did not run as MP in the 2006 parliamentary election.[21] He was called back by Gyurcsány in mid-2008 after he openly criticized the government in some of his interviews.[22]

Medgyessy was interviewed by Index on the tenth anniversary of his resignation on 27 August 2014, where he called Gyurcsány a "Trojan Horse" and "traitor".[citation needed] According to Medgyessy, he was removed from the position of Prime Minister after a secret agreement between MSZP and SZDSZ leaders László Kovács, Ildikó Lendvai, Katalin Szili and Gábor Kuncze. He also said he would enact the 100-day action program again, but he regretted not revealing his D-209 agency past before the 2002 elections.[23]

Awards and merits

He received the Commander's Cross with a Star of the Hungarian

Federal Cross of Merit.[24]

Selected publications

  • Csizmadia, Ervin: A Medgyessy-talány. A nemzeti középtől (a) végig. Századvég Kiadó, Budapest, 2004.
  • Csizmadia, Ervin: "Elképzeltek maguknak egy miniszterelnököt". Csizmadia Ervin interjúja Medgyessy Péterrel (interview). Századvég Kiadó, Budapest, 2004.
  • Medgyessy, Péter: Polgár a pályán. Kossuth Kiadó, Budapest, 2006.
  • Perger, István (ed.): Medgyessy. Ringier Kiadó, Budapest, 2004.

References

  1. ^ Mo Hong'e (2009-03-22). "Profile: Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsany". Xinhua. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09.
  2. ^ Index (2004-08-18). "Az SZDSZ megvonta a bizalmat Medgyessytől". Index.hu.
  3. ^ Index (2004-08-21). "Konstruktív bizalmatlansággal váltják Medgyessyt". Index.hu.
  4. ^ a b c d "Medgyessy Péter volt kormányfő 70 éves". Metropol. 19 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Fisher, Ian (22 April 2002). "Hungarians Choose Socialist as New Leader". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  6. ^ Kopint Datorg Rt. "Biography". Medgyessy.hu. Archived from the original on 2009-08-28.
  7. ^ "Titkos ügynök a kormány élén". Magyar Nemzet Online. 18 June 2002. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  8. ^ "Készül a második 100 napos program". Origo. 19 July 2002.
  9. ^ "Fidesz Wants to Jail Former Socialist Prime Ministers". Magyar Nemzet Online. 4 August 2011.
  10. ^ "Maltese, Hungarians Vote in Favor of European Union". Deutsche Welle. 2003-04-13. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  11. ^ "Az MSZP kivételével mindenki ellenzi a közös EP-listát". Origo. 19 February 2004.
  12. ^ "Medgyessy: Félsiker a közös EP-lista ügyében". Origo. 25 February 2004.
  13. ^ "AZ EP szerint antidemokratikus Medgyessy közös listája". Origo. 12 March 2004.
  14. ^ "Europe: Hungary: Tycoon Picked As New Premier". The New York Times. 26 August 2004. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  15. ^ "Medgyessyzmusok". Platina Print Kiadó. 1 October 2004. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  16. ^ The second 100 day programme is being prepared – Article on origo.hu
  17. ^ The Medgyessy government at half-time Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine article on the website of A Közép és Kelet-európai Történelem és Társadalom Kutatásáért Public Fund
  18. ^ "A statisztikai hivatalnak fizetnie kell Mellár elbocsátásáért". Index.hu. 29 April 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  19. ^ "Alkotmányellenesen tisztogatott a Medgyessy-kormány". Index.hu. 21 February 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  20. ^ "Full text of letter written by eight European leaders". The Irish Times. 30 January 2003.
  21. ^ Index (2008-05-19). "Két kontinenst hagyott csak ki Medgyessy Péter". Index.hu.
  22. ^ Index (2008-04-30). "Gyurcsány kirúgta Medgyessyt". Index.hu.
  23. ^ Index (2014-08-27). "Gyurcsány áruló. Mi a csudának tartanám?". Index.hu.
  24. ^ Dr. Péter Medgyessy former Prime Minister Archived 2006-07-03 at archive.today – Awards. www.medgyessy.hu

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Minister of Finance

1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Minister of Finance

1996–1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Hungary
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
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