István Varga (born 18 October 1953) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician,

member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

(MP) from 1994 to 2002, and from 2010 to 2014.

Political career

He joined

Hungarian Democratic Forum The Hungarian Democratic Forum ( hu, Magyar Demokrata Fórum, MDF) was a centre-right political party in Hungary. It had a Hungarian nationalist, national-conservative, Christian-democratic ideology. The party was represented continuously in the ...

(MDF) in 1988, and served as President of the party's

Békés County Békés (, , ro, Județul Bichiș) is an administrative division (county or ''megye'') in south-eastern Hungary, on the border with Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Hajdú-Bihar. The ...

branch between 1992 and 2002. He was a local representative in the Assembly of

Orosháza Orosháza is a city situated in the westernmost part of Békés county, Hungary, on the Békés ridge bordered by the rivers Maros and Körös. Orosháza is an important cultural, educational and recreational centre of the region. Main sigh ...

from 1990 to 1994, and functioned as head of the MDF group. He was elected MP from the party's Békés County Regional List in the 1994 parliamentary election. He became a member of the Committee on Environmental Protection (1994–1995), and the Committee on Immunity, Incompatibility, and Mandate (1994–2002). He was delegated to the Presidium of the Hungarian Democratic Forum in 1996. He was elected MP for Orosháza (Békés County Constituency VI) during the 1998 parliamentary election. Varga left MDF and joined

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

in 2002. He practised as a lawyer until the 2010 parliamentary election, when he secured a mandate from the Fidesz's

Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok ( hu, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok megye, ) is the name of an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus or ''megye'') in Hungary. It lies in central Hungary and shares borders with the Hungarian counties Pest ...

Regional List. He was appointed a member of the Committee on Immunity, Incompatibility, and Mandate on 14 May 2010, and of the Constitutional, Judicial, and Standing Orders Committee on 2 November 2010. Varga was made Chairman of the Board of the

Central European Press and Media Foundation The Central European Press and Media Foundation or CEPMF ( hu, Közép-Európai Sajtó és Média Alapítvány, ''KESMA'') is a Hungarian foundation controlling many of the country's media outlets. Its assets consist of cable news channels, radio ...

(Kesma), which established as a single giant umbrella-organization of pro-government media in November 2018. He was interviewed by Behir.hu on 4 February 2019, where he said he prefers reading opposition and independent media products, where quality is more balanced. Varga announced his resignation as board chair within hours.

Controversy

In September 2012, Varga made controversial remarks on

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

during a parliamentary debate. He said there would be no domestic violence if Hungarian women had four or five children instead of only one or two. After that, several NGOs staged a demonstration on

Kossuth tér Kossuth Lajos Square ( hu, Kossuth Lajos tér), also known as Kossuth Square (), is a city square situated in the Lipótváros neighbourhood of Budapest, Hungary, on the bank of the Danube. Its most notable landmark is the Hungarian Parliame ...

to draw attention to violence against women, and to speak up for women's rights more generally. Following the outcry, Fidesz lawmakers decided that parliament should decide about incorporating domestic violence into the country's new Penal Code as a separate offence, a demand signed by 105,000 people in an initiative.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Istvan 1953 births Living people Hungarian jurists Hungarian Democratic Forum politicians Fidesz politicians 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 (2010–2014) People from Orosháza