György Gyimesi (born 24 August 1980) is a Slovak politician who has been MP of the

National Council of Slovakia The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation with seats dis ...

since 2020.

Early life

György Gyimesi was born on 24 August 1980 in

Kráľovský Chlmec Kráľovský Chlmec (; until 1948 ''Kráľovský Chlumec'', ) is a town in the Trebišov District in the Košice Region of south-eastern Slovakia. It has a population of 7,462. Etymology The name means "Royal Hill". Slovak ''chlm'', Czech ''chlu ...

. He was born as Juraj Gyimesi but legally changed his given name to György in 2020. His father Július Gyimesi was a physician and served as an MP of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly from 1990 to 1991. Gyimesi studied public policy at the Pavel Jozef Šafárik University.

Political career

Gyimesi failed to win a seat in the

2020 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council. The populist Ordinary People and Independent Personalities–NOVA–Christian Union–Change from Below (OĽaNO–NOVA–KÚ� ...

on the list of the

Ordinary People and Independent Personalities Slovakia (), known as Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (, OĽANO) until 2023, is a populist political party in Slovakia. Founded in 2011 by former businessman Igor Matovič, the party champions anti-corruption, anti-elitist and ...

(OĽaNO). Nonetheless, he became an MP as a replacement for

Jaroslav Naď Jaroslav Naď (born 21 March 1981) is a Slovak politician who served as Minister of Defence between March 2020 and May 2023, as a nominee of OĽaNO. He specialises in national security issues and previously worked with Globsec. Naď currently ...

. In March 2021 Gyimesi conducted negotiations with the Hungarian foreign minister

Péter Szijjártó Péter Szijjártó (; born 30 October 1978) is a Hungarian politician who has been Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Hungary), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade since 2014. He previously served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ...

with the aim to amend the Slovak citizenship law, which stipulates that citizens of Slovakia who acquire another citizenship without having a genuine tie to their new country automatically lose their Slovak citizenship. The law was implemented as a countermeasure to the Hungarian law, which makes all "ethnic Hungarians" living abroad eligible for the Hungarian citizenship. The foreign minister of Slovakia

Ivan Korčok Ivan Korčok (born 4 April 1964 ) is a Slovak politician and retired executive diplomat who was Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia from 2020 to 2022 as an independent nominee of the Freedom and Solidarity political party. A gr ...

sharply criticized both Gyimesi and the Hungarian government for their conduct, stressing that the MP had no mandate to conduct such negotiations with a representative of a foreign country. Gyimesi, in turn, accused Korčok of

Hungarophobia Anti-Hungarian sentiment (also known as Hungarophobia, Anti-Hungarianism, Magyarophobia or Antimagyarism) is dislike, distrust, discrimination, or xenophobia directed against the Hungarians. It can involve hatred, grievance, distrust, intimidatio ...

. In April 2023, Gyimesi announced departure from OĽaNO over his disagreement with pro-Ukrainian stance of the prime minister

Eduard Heger Eduard Heger (; born 3 May 1976) is a Slovak politician, who served as the Prime Minister of Slovakia from 1 April 2021 to 15 May 2023. He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Matovič Cabinet, cabinet of I ...

in the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In May 2023, Gyimesi lost his National Council mandate when Naď resigned as the defense minister and returned to the parliament. In the

2023 Slovak parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in the Slovakia, Slovak Republic on 30 September 2023 to elect members of the National Council (Slovakia), National Council. Regular elections were scheduled to be held in 2024. However, on 15 December 202 ...

, Gyimesi ran on the list of the Hungarian Alliance party, which failed to pass the representation threshold. In late 2023, he became a vice-chair of the Hungarian Alliance. As the vice-chair he argued for an electoral coalition with one of the "sovereigntist" political parties, claiming that the "ethnic politics is dead" in Slovakia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyimesi, Gyorgy Living people 1980 births Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020–2023 OĽaNO politicians Hungarians in Slovakia People from Trebišov District