Csaba Sándor Tabajdi (born June 26, 1952 in

Kiskunfélegyháza Kiskunfélegyháza (; german: Feulegaß) is a city in Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary. Geography Kiskunfélegyháza is located in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain, southeast from Budapest. M5 motorway, Highway 5, 451, Budapest–Cegléd–Sz ...

) is a Hungarian politician and former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for the

Hungarian Socialist Party The Hungarian Socialist Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Párt), commonly known by its acronym MSZP, is a centre-left social-democratic and pro-European political party in Hungary. It was founded on 7 October, 1989 as a post-communist evolution a ...

, part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...

. He is member of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee on Petitions, as well as the Delegation for relations with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and a substitute member of the Committee on Environment and Public Health and the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

Early life and career

He went to primary school in the Southern Hungarian village of Szank, and did his secondary school in

. In 1974, he got his degree in international relations at the Karl Marx University of Budapest. In 1974-75 and later in 1981-83 he was an administrator in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. In 1975-82, he was

cultural attaché A cultural attaché is a diplomat with varying responsibilities, depending on the sending state of the attaché. Historically, such posts were filled by writers and artists, giving them a steady income, and allowing them to develop their own creat ...

of the Hungarian Embassy in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

for 7 years. In 1983-89 he worked for the foreign affairs department of the Central Committee of the

Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt, MSZMP) was the ruling Marxist–Leninist party of the Hungarian People's Republic between 1956 and 1989. It was organised from elements of the Hungarian Working Peop ...

as a deputy head of the department from 1986 onwards. In 1989-90 he led the Secretariat of the College of National and Ethnic Minorities for the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. In 1990-94, he was board member of the Illyés Foundation for Hungarians Living Abroad

Political career

In 1989, he headed the Secretariat of the National and ethnic minorities board of the Council of Ministers of Hungary In 1989-90, he was a deputy minister in the

Government of Hungary The Government of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország Kormánya) exercises executive (government), executive power in Hungary. It is led by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Prime Minister, and is composed of various ministers. It is the principal organ of p ...

. He was a member of the

Hungarian National Assembly The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proporti ...

between 1990 and 2004 in the group of the Hungarian Socialist Party. From 1991 he was also a member of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

in the Social Democratic political group. In 1994-98 he was political state secretary (deputy minister) at the Office of the Prime Minister. After 1998 he was member, then (from 2002) head of the Hungarian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...

. In 1998-2002, he worked as adviser on

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

matters in the Bács-Kiskun Regional Authority In 2002-04, he was member of the Bács-Kiskun Regional Assembly Since 2003, he has been a

(in 2003-04 as observer) in the Group of the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

, and the head of the Hungarian Socialist Delegation. Since 2011, he has been the co-chair of the Intergroup of National Minorities, National Communities and Languages. He is the Vice-President of the European Parliamentary Association

Non-political activities and publications

In 2008, Csaba Tabajdi was the founder of the Hungarian Agricultural Academy, a yearly forum of representatives of Hungarian and international agriculture. So far the forum was held three times (2008, 2009 and 2010), and has arguably become one of the most important high-profile agricultural events in Hungary. Since 2008, he has been an

honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

at the

István Széchenyi Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék ( hu, sárvár-felsővidéki gróf Széchenyi István, ; archaically English: Stephen Széchenyi; 21 September 1791 – 8 April 1860) was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and wri ...

University of

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

His scientific publications include: ''Az önazonosság labirintusa'' (The labyrinth of identity), Budapest, 1998 ''Esélyek és veszélyek'' (Chances and risks), Budapest, 2002 ''Magyarságtudat és megélhetés'' (Hungarian consciousness and subsistence), Budapest, 2002 ''Unió Európával és a magyar nemzettel'' (Union with Europe and the Hungarian nation), Budapest, 2003 ''Keletről nyugatra Európa közepén'' (From the East to the West in the middle of Europe), Budapest, 2006 ''Pro minoritate Europae'' (For the minorities of Europe), European Parliament, Brussels, 2009 (available in English as well) http://www.tabajdi.hu/_user/browser/File/Kisebbsegi%20kotet/Intergroup%20magyar.pdf

Honours and decorations

Márton Áron Award (1992) Award for Bács-Kiskun County (1996, 2004)

References

External links

Official website of Csaba Tabajdi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabajdi, Csaba Sandor 1952 births Living people People from Kiskunfélegyháza Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Hungarian Socialist Party MEPs MEPs for Hungary 2004–2009 MEPs for Hungary 2009–2014 Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) Corvinus University of Budapest alumni