Gábor Kuncze
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Gábor Kuncze (born 4 November 1950 in
Pápa Pápa is a historical town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 28,549 inhabitants (2024), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the r ...
) is a Hungarian liberal politician, former chairman of the Hungarian
Alliance of Free Democrats The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party (, , SZDSZ ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and of Liberal International. It drew its su ...
(SZDSZ). He became anchorman at the radio channel
Klubrádió Klubrádió is a commercial talk and news radio station based in Budapest, Hungary. Klubrádió is often labeled as the voice of the left-liberal opposition. Many on the right and far-right find it important to emphasize what they perceive as the ...
in 2008 while he was still an SZDSZ member of Parliament. Later, in 2010, he also became a host for the television channel
ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television broadcaster * Andorra Televisió * Anguilla Television * Ayna TV, Afghanistan * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourn ...
. Kuncze was later dismissed from ATV's morning program, which was taken over by Egon Rónai.


Biography

Kuncze was born in
Pápa Pápa is a historical town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 28,549 inhabitants (2024), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the r ...
in 1950. After graduating from the piarist grammar school in
Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...
he studied
geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering, also known as geotechnics, is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics to solve its engineering problems. I ...
in the Ybl Miklós Technical College in Budapest and graduated from there in 1974. Later he got a degree of Economics specialized in Industry Management and Organization. Kuncze is married to mathematics teacher Katalin Fellegi.


Political career

Kuncze joined the party in August 1992, two years after the first free and democratic parliamentary elections following the collapse of the
Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
system. In November 1992 he was elected a member of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
and in October 1994 a member of the National Executive Committee of the party. From April 1997 until June 1998 he was the chairman of the Alliance of Free Democrats. He retired from his position following the party's relatively weak results on the 1998 parliamentary elections. However, he took over the liberal party again on 1 July 2001 and was reelected as party chairman in 2003 and 2005. In 2006 Kuncze announced not to run for the chair in the following year or any executive positions in the future. Kuncze was a member of parliament since 1990. He was the leader of the Parliament group of the party from 1993 to 1994, and from 1994 until 1998 Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister. After 1998 - as one of the leading opposition politicians in the parliament - he heavily criticised the work of Orbán's government. He initiated the introduction of a two-level minimum salary system, but his proposal was not negotiated by the National Assembly - that time with a right-wing majority. He also heavily criticised the governing
Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...
for their decision to hold plenary sessions of the unicameral National Assembly only every third week. In 2006 he called Fidesz parliamentarian
Máriusz Révész Máriusz Révész (born 31 May 1967, in Budapest) is a Hungarian politician of the Fidesz party and a former Member of the Parliament. Youth His family originate from Kőbánya, Budapest. He finished his secondary studies at the I. László G ...
, who was attacked and injured by police during the
2006 protests in Hungary The 2006 protests in Hungary were a series of anti-government protests triggered by the release of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's leaked private speech in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win th ...
"Marytirius". Révész had parliamentary immunity at the time and as such police had no right to use force against him. In February 2009, Kuncze again made a controversial statement. In
Klubrádió Klubrádió is a commercial talk and news radio station based in Budapest, Hungary. Klubrádió is often labeled as the voice of the left-liberal opposition. Many on the right and far-right find it important to emphasize what they perceive as the ...
he was speaking with Tibor Dessewffy, an advisor to prime minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány Ferenc Gyurcsány (; born 4 June 1961) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009. Prior to that, he held the position of Government of Hungary, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sp ...
. In the program, while talking about the very low level of public mood (according to Kuncze, completely unjustified), recommended handing out
cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
tablets to the people who were feeling miserable. The Hungarian media authority, ORTT, have declined to investigate the matter. Kuncze later apologised for his remarks, saying they were ill-conceived.


Personal life

He is married. His wife is Katalin Kunczéné Fellegi.- Kuncze Gábor vagyonnyilatkozata - 2003. február
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References


External links


Hungarian Parliament
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuncze, Gabor 1950 births Living people People from Pápa Alliance of Free Democrats politicians Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2006–2010) Ministers of the interior of Hungary