György Szapáry (born 1 August 1938) is a Hungarian–Belgian economist, who served as the Hungarian Ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

between 2011 and 2015. He was also a former Deputy Governor of the

Hungarian National Bank The Hungarian National Bank ( , MNB) is the central bank of Hungary and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It was established in 1924 as a successor entity of the Austro-Hungarian Bank, under the economic assistance ...

Early life

He was born as Count György Béla Mária József István Szapáry de Szapár, Muraszombat et Széchy-Sziget () into a prominent

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

Szapáry family The House of Szapáry (Hungarian: ''Szapáry de Muraszombath, Széchysziget et Szapár'') is the name of an old and important Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family, which derived its name from the village of Szápár, Szapár. History The fa ...

Tiszabura Tiszabura is a village in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. ...

. His parents were Count Gyula Szapáry de Szapár, Muraszombat et Széchy-Sziget (1901-1985) and Countess Adél Maria Amalia Hadik de Futak (1909-1972). One of his great-grandfathers was Count

Gyula Szapáry Count Gyula Szapáry de Szapár, Muraszombat et Széchy-Sziget, Arhaically English: Julius Szapáry, French: Jules Szapáry (1 November 1832 – 20 January 1905) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1890 t ...

, the

Prime Minister of Hungary The prime minister of Hungary () is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the government of Hungary, Cabinet are collectively accountability, accountable for their policies and actions to the National Assembly (Hungary), Par ...

between 1890 and 1892. After the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

he emigrated to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

then

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate in economics from the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

. His academic opponent was Sándor Lámfalussy.

Career

Between 1965 and 1966, he worked for the European Economic Community (EEC). Between December 1966 and April 1990, he worked at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, most recently as assistant director. Returning home and granting Hungarian citizenship in 1990, Szapáry was senior resident representative of the International Monetary Fund in Hungary (1990–1993). Then he served as deputy governor of the

and thus a member of the Monetary Council on two occasions (1993–1999 then 2001–2007), under governors

Péter Ákos Bod Péter Ákos Bod (born 28 July 1951) is a Hungarian politician and economist, who served as Minister of Industry and Trade in the cabinet of József Antall from 1990 to 1991 then Governor of the Hungarian National Bank from 1991 to 1994, when h ...

, György Surányi and

Zsigmond Járai Zsigmond Járai (born 29 December 1951) is a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Finance between 1998 and 2000. He was the President of the Budapest Stock Exchange between 1996 and 1998. After his ministership he was appointed Gover ...

, as well as senior advisor to

György Surányi György Surányi (born January 3, 1954) is a Hungarian economist the CEO and chairman of CIB Bank and former president of the Hungarian National Bank. Career Surányi has been president of the Hungarian national Bank between 1990–1991 and a ...

, the Governor of the Hungarian National Bank (1999–2001). Other positions include alternate governor for the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(1994–1995); president of the Board of Directors for the International Training Centre for Bankers in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

(1993–2001); board member of the Budapest Commodity Exchange (1997–2001); president of the Foundation for Enterprise Promotion for the Hungarian province of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (1995–99); member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Commission and of the European Central Bank’s International Relations Committee (2004–07); and member of the Hungarian Economic Social Council (2004–07). He was also a member of the Supervisory Board and Audit Committee of Telekom Hungary (2007) and a member of the Board of Directors of the OTP Bank, Budapest, Hungary (May 2008-January 2011). He has been a member of the Euro50 Group since 2001. HillaryClintonHungary2

From July 2010 to January 2011, Szapáry was chief economic policy advisor to Prime Minister

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...

. He was appointed Hungarian Ambassador to the United States of America in early 2011. He replaced

Béla Szombati Béla Szombati (born 1955) is a former Hungarian Ambassador to the United States. Career He served as head of the Strategic Planning and Information Management Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006–09) as well as Hungary's ambassad ...

in this position. Due to his appointment, the

Second Orbán Government The second government of Viktor Orbán or the Government of National Cooperation (in Hungarian: ''A Nemzeti Együttműködés Kormánya'') was the Government of Hungary from 29 May 2010 to 6 June 2014. Orbán formed his second cabinet after his ...

changed the law on the appointment of ambassadors by abolishing the age limit of 70 years. Szapáry was 72-year-old when Prime Minister

invited him to fill the position. As a result, critics called the law as "''lex Szapáry''". He served in that capacity until January 2015, when he was replaced by

Réka Szemerkényi Réka Szemerkényi is a Hungarian economist, political scientist and politician, who was the Hungarian ambassador to the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was state secretary for foreign policy and national security advisor to the Prime Minis ...

. Currently he is Chief Adviser to the Governor of the Hungarian National Bank and honorary professor at Corvinus University of Budapest. Szapáry is Doctor honoris causa of the

University of Miskolc The University of Miskolc (before 1990: ''Technical University of Heavy Industry'') is the largest university of Northern Hungary. Location Most of the buildings can be found in Egyetemváros ("University Town"), a part of the city of Miskolc. ...

, Hungary; the recipient of the Sándor Popovics Award in recognition for outstanding contribution in the field of banking and monetary policy; a recipient of the OTP Bank's András Fay award; and a recipient of the insignia of the French Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.

Personal life

Szapáry married biologist Daniéle Héléne Lucienne Winckelmans (born 1939 in

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

) in

Hoboken, Antwerp Hoboken () is a southern Districts of Antwerp, district of the Arrondissements of Belgium, arrondissement and city of Antwerp, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located at the Scheldt river. The name of the district has its origins in Middl ...

on 21 August 1965. Daniéle Szapáry passed away in May 2011. They have two sons and five grandchildren. The elder son Philippe Olivier (born 1967) obtained an MD degree from the University of Chicago and works at a pharmaceutical company in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The younger son Christophe Béla (born 1969) is a lawyer in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Selected publications

*''Diffusion du progrès et convergence des prix, Europe-États-Unis, 1899–1962'' (co-editor, 1966) *''Moderate inflation. The Experience of Transition Economies'' (co-editor. 1998) *''Monetary Strategies for Joining the Euro'' (2004)

Notes

External links

The Washington Diplomat Newspaper - Ambassador profile
- delivered by His Excellency György Szapáry, March 9, 2011 - European Union Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign {{DEFAULTSORT:Szapary, Gyorgy 1938 births Living people Hungarian politicians Hungarian nobility Gyorgy Hungarian economists Hungarian emigrants to Belgium Ambassadors of Hungary to the United States