Lajos András Bokros (born 26 June 1954) is a Hungarian

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, who served as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1995 to 1996. He was a

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

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, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in the 2009–2014 session. He was the leader of the Movement for a Modern Hungary, which he founded in April 2013, and sat in the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European pol ...

group in the European Parliament. The

Bokros package The Bokros package ( hu, Bokros-csomag; named after the then-Minister of Finance Lajos Bokros) was a series of austerity measures announced by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Gyula Horn in Hungary on 12 March 1995. Background Having lost the free ...

was named after him.

Financial career

Bokros was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. He graduated from and holds a Ph.D. from the

Budapest University of Economics Corvinus University of Budapest ( hu, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem) is a university in Budapest, Hungary. The university currently has an enrolment of approximately 9,600 students, with a primary focus on business administration, economics, and s ...

. He successfully applied for the scholarship of

University of Panama The University of Panama ( es, Universidad de Panamá) was founded on October 7, 1935. Initially, it had 175 students learning education, commerce, natural sciences, pharmacy, pre-engineering or law. , it had 74,059 students distributed in 228 b ...

in 1976, where he learned to speak fluent

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. He wrote his dissertation on the industrialization, integration and common market developments in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. He was director of the State Property Agency of Hungary between 1990–1991. He was chairman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

at the Budapest Bank between 1991–1995. He is a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

(Department of Public Policy) and former

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social sciences and ...

. Bokros was the Minister of Finance between 1995–1996 in the government of

Gyula Horn Gyula János Horn (5 July 1932 – 19 June 2013) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1994 to 1998. Horn is remembered as the last Communist Minister of Foreign Affairs who played a major role in the demolishi ...

. He is best known for the so-called "

"; a string of

austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...

measures implemented during his term as Finance Minister. He resigned from his position in February 1996. He was replaced by

Péter Medgyessy Péter Medgyessy (; born 19 October 1942) is a retired Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 27 May 2002 to 29 September 2004. On 25 August 2004, he resigned over disputes with coalition partner Alliance of Free Democr ...

. Between 1997 and 2000, Lajos Bokros was Director for Private Sector and Finance at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. There, together with Stjn Claessens,

Simeon Djankov Simeon Dyankov ( bg, Симеон Дянков, also Djankov; born July 13, 1970) is a Bulgarian economist. From 2009 to 2013, he was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria in the government of Boyko Borisov. Prior to his ...

, and Gerhard Pohl he worked on enterprise restructuring in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. As director, Lajos Bokros also led the assistance in restructuring the Russian banking sector after the 1997-1998 banking crisis.

Political career

Supported by the

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), Bokros was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

in the 2009 election and sat in the

Group. He was a full member of the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

. Bokros' nomination indicated a change of political position from conservative to liberal ideology. As a result, several prominent members left the party, including Péter Olajos,

Kálmán Katona Kálmán Katona (8 April 1948 – 5 February 2017) was a Hungarian politician as a member of Parliament and President of the Electorate of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) conservative party. He served as Vice-President of the Committee fo ...

and former Prime Minister

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 ...

. With MP András Csáky's quit, the Hungarian Democratic Forum's parliamentary group defunct according to the house rules in March 2009. He was the MDF's candidate for the position of Prime Minister of Hungary on the

2010 Hungarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 11 and 25 April 2010 to elect the members of the National Assembly. They were the sixth free elections since the end of the communist era. 386 Members of Parliament (MPs) were elected in a combined ...

. Under his influence, several other former left-wing politicians were placed on the national list, furthermore MDF entered into an electoral alliance with

Alliance of Free Democrats 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 Democrats ...

(SZDSZ), which suffered a crushing defeat during the 2009 European Parliament election. After the decision, the quits became a mass phenomenon, whole local party organizations ceased to exist. On the national election, MDF came to the fifth place and received only 2.67% of the votes, thus shut out of the legislature altogether for the first time since the transition to democracy, after twenty years. Bokros left MDF when the party dissolved in 2011. The successor party,

Democratic Community of Welfare and Freedom The Democratic Community of Welfare and Freedom ( hu, Jólét és Szabadság Demokrata Közösség), abbreviated to JESZ, is a centre-right political party in Hungary. It has a liberal conservatism, liberal conservative and Christian democratic ...

(JESZ) called Bokros several times to give back his MEP mandate, but all relationship has been lost between Bokros and his former party. On 21 April 2013, Bokros founded the

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by li ...

Modern Hungary Movement The Modern Hungary Movement ( hu, Modern Magyarország Mozgalom), abbreviated to MoMa, was a liberal conservative political party in Hungary. Founded by former Finance Minister Lajos Bokros MEP on 21 April 2013, MoMa stood for free market, liberal ...

(MoMa). The party planned to run in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, however its registration was refused by the National Election Office (NVI). As a result, Bokros lost his European Parliament mandate. Bokros also ran for Mayor of Budapest in the 2014 municipal election. On 29 September 2014, two other candidates, the independent György Magyar and candidate of the leftist opposition parties' Ferenc Falus withdrew from the election and supported Bokros. Bokros received 36.04% of the votes and came to the second place after

István Tarlós István Tarlós (; 26 May 1948) is a Hungarian politician who served as the Mayor of Budapest from 2010 to 2019. Previously he served as the Mayor of the Third District (Óbuda-Békásmegyer) of the city between 1990 and 2006 (as an independent ...

. He was supported by the

Together 2014 Together ( hu, Együtt), officially Together – Party for a New Era ( hu, Együtt – A Korszakváltók Pártja), formerly also known as Together 2014 ( hu, Együtt 2014), was a social-liberal political party in Hungary formed on 26 October 2012 f ...

, Democratic Coalition and Budapest branch of 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 ...

Personal life

Bokros is married to Mária Gyetvai. They have two children, Ildikó and András.

References

External links

Lajos BOKROS European Parliament profile
* Hungarian Spectrum
The Bokros package: pro and con
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bokros, Lajos 1954 births Living people Politicians from Budapest Hungarian economists Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Hungarian Democratic Forum politicians Finance ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Hungarian Democratic Forum MEPs MEPs for Hungary 2009–2014 Academic staff of Central European University Corvinus University of Budapest alumni Chief operating officers