László Békesi (born 31 May 1942) is a Hungarian politician, 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", " ...

twice: between 1989-1990 and from 1994 to 1995.

Biography

Early life

He was an athlete when he was ten years old, he was member of the national youth team. He finished high-school studies in

Cegléd Cegléd (; german: Zieglet) is a city in 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 "corner") due t ...

. He could have got into the university without admission one, because he was honored on the OKTV educational competition. However the Eötvös Loránd University did not admit him. According to the institution Békesi's material conditions were not provided for his learning, because his father died early. However the real reason was that he derived from a religious family. Békesi became a breadwinner, he worked for parish councils of Albertirsa and Dánszentmiklós. Later he was put it on for the College of Finance and Accountancy's evening course later. His teacher was Lajos Faluvégi, who later became Minister of Finance and dealt with the economical reform. From 1967 he worked as a chief accountant for the Council of Pest County 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 joined to the

MSZMP 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 Peo ...

in 1968 and he was appointed head of the financial department and later general deputy chairman of the Council of Pest County. He became economical vice president of the Capital Council of Budapest in 1975 and member of the Committee of Planning Board. Békesi graduated at the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences. His speciality is the councils' farming from the collegiate years, later this was supplemented with the public finance and the questions of the fiscal systems.

First ministerial term

His political and vocational career rose in parallel with. He was appointed titular university professor in 1981, during that time also served as economic-political secretary of the party's Committee of Budapest. Until 1985 he was member of the Central Committee's economic panel. In 1984 he was also member of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, which decided about the boycott of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

(

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

) at this time. The committee voted for the boycotting beside three abstentions and one "not" vote. Békesi was one of the three who abstained, and lost his secretary position in 1985 in a party disciplinary action. However István Hetényi supported him and made him to his substitute. László Békesi was the Communist regime's last Minister of Finance between 10 May 1989 and 23 May 1990.

References

Békesi László életrajza az Országgyűlés honlapján (1996. május 6.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekesi, Laszlo 1942 births Living people People from Győr Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Finance ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Corvinus University of Budapest alumni