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János Szabó (29 October 1937 – 25 February 2021) was a Hungarian jurist and politician, who served as
Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
between 1993 and 1994.


Career

János Szabó was born in
Tápiószentmárton Tápiószentmárton is a village in Pest county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Roman ...
in 1937, as the only child of farmer József Szabó and Margit Mester. His father was a
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
from January 1945 to July 1947. János attended elementary school in his birthplace. He finished his secondary studies at the Kossuth Lajos Gymnasium in
Cegléd Cegléd (; german: Zieglet) is a city in Pest County, Pest county, Hungary, approximately southeast of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Name The name of the town is of disputed origin. The name may be derived from the word "szeglet" (meaning "co ...
in 1956. He earned a degree in law at the Faculty of Law of the
University of Szeged , mottoeng = Truth. Bravery. Freedom. , established = , type = Public research university , founder = Emperor Franz Joseph I , affiliation = European University Association, Science Without Borders, Confucius Institute , budget = US$220 mi ...
(SZTE) in 1960. He worked for the Military Prosecutor's Office of
Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...
and
Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
, then for the Council of
Csongrád County Csongrád ( ro, Ciongrad; tr, Conğrad sr, Чонград, Čongrad, archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd'') is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. History At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the ...
between 1960 and 1965. He became a practicing lawyer in 1965, as a member of the
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 ...
No. 1 Bar Association.Horváth, Zsolt (ed.): ''Az 1990-ben megválasztott Országgyűlés almanachja'' he Elected Members of the National Assembly of Hungary, 1990 Országgyűlés, Budapest, 1992. p. 368. He suspended his legal practice in 1990.Bölöny, József – Hubai, László: Magyarország kormányai 1848–2004 abinets of Hungary 1848–2004 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2004 (5th edition). p. 443. At the height of the
transition to democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...
, Szabó joined
Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party ( hu, Független Kisgazda-, Földmunkás- és Polgári Párt), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party ( hu, Független Kisgazdapárt), ...
(FKGP) in August 1989. He was elected prosecutor of the party's
Győr-Moson-Sopron County Győr-Moson-Sopron ( hu, Győr-Moson-Sopron megye, ; german: Komitat Raab-Wieselburg-Ödenburg; sk, Rábsko-mošonsko-šopronská župa) is an administrative county (comitatus or '' megye'') in north-western Hungary, on the border with Slovakia ( ...
branch in the autumn of that year. He ran for an individual seat for Győr (Győr-Moson-Sopron County Constituency I) during the 1990 parliamentary election, where he came to the third place after László Medgyasszay ( MDF) and Dorottya Büky (
SZDSZ The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party ( hu, Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége – a Magyar Liberális Párt, SZDSZ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrat ...
). He obtained a mandate from his party's local county list. In the parliament, Szabó was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Legislation and Justice from 1990 to 1991 and from 1992 to 1993 (serving as its vice-chairman in the latter period). Briefly, he was also a member of the Municipal, Administrative, Homeland Security and Police Committee from 1991 to 1992, and the Rules of Procedure Committee in 1992. The coalition between the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and the Independent Smallholders' Party, led by
József Torgyán József Torgyán (16 November 1932 − 22 January 2017) was a Hungarian lawyer and politician, chairman of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1991−2002), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (1998−2001) i ...
broke up in February 1992. Szabó joined that faction of the
parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...
which intended to remain in the government. The majority of the caucus, the ''Group of 33 MPs'', later 36 MPs continued to support the government, while FKGP (''Group of 12 MPs'' then 10 MPs) went into opposition. Szabó was elected leader of the pro-government parliamentary group in September 1992, holding the position until February 1993.
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
József Antall József Tihamér Antall Jr. ( hu, ifjabb Antall József Tihamér, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, holdin ...
appointed him Minister of Agriculture on 23 February 1993. Meanwhile, the pro-government smallholders' faction formed the
United Smallholders' Party The United Historical Smallholders and Civic Party ( hu, Egyesült Történelmi Kisgazda és Polgári Párt), known mostly by its acronym EKGP or its shortened form United Smallholders' Party ( hu, Egyesült Kisgazdapárt), was an agrarianist poli ...
(EKGP) as a formal organizational unit on 6 November 1993. Szabó was elected the first party chairman of the party on 19 December 1993. Szabó retained his ministerial position in the government of
Péter Boross Péter Boross (born 27 August 1928) is a retired Hungarian politician and former member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from December 1993 to July 1994. He assumed the position upon the death of his ...
too until 15 July 1994. During the 1994 parliamentary election, the EKGP received only 0.82 percent of the vote, while its main rival the Torgyán-led FKGP again entered the parliament with 8.82 percent of the vote, thus Szabó lost his parliamentary seat. On 17 December 1994, Szabó was replaced by Géza Zsiros as party leader. He retired from national politics thereafter. He returned to the FKGP in 2002. Szabó was a member of the local representative body of Tápiószentmárton from 1998 to 2010.


Personal life

János Szabó married Gabriella Pethő in 1962. They had two children, lawyer László (b. 1964) and Katalin (b. 1971). Szabó was granted honorary citizenship of Tápiószentmárton in 1994, for "the development of his birthplace, for the aging of the good reputation of the village, for the help of the construction of the Tápiószentmárton-
Albertirsa Albertirsa (formerly ''Alberti-Irsa'', sk, Irša) is a town in '' Ceglédi kistérség'', ''Pest megye'', and the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain. History Initially Albertirsa was two separate inhabitations: ''Alberti'' and ''Irsa'', havin ...
connecting road". He often played on his
tárogató The tárogató (''töröksíp'', ''Turkish pipe''; plural ''tárogatók'' or, anglicized, ''tárogatós''; ro, taragot or ''torogoata'') refers to two different woodwind instruments commonly used in both Hungarian and Romanian folk music. The ...
at local events. Szabó died on 25 February 2021, at the age of 83.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szabo, Janos 1937 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Hungarian lawyers University of Szeged alumni People from Pest County Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party politicians Agriculture ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994)