István Bethlen (19 June 1946 – 4 September 2018) was a Hungarian economist and politician,

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 ...

(MP) from MDF

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 ...

Regional List between 1990 and 1994.

Biography

He was born as Count István Bethlen de Bethlen ( hu, bethleni gróf Bethlen István) into a wealthy and influential Transylvanian family in

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , le ...

, which was already part of the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

again after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was the fourth child of Count László Bethlen and Countess Margit Teleki de Szék. Count István married Éva Vajda de Kisbag on 21 September 1991 in Budapest. Count István emigrated to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in his youth. He finished his academic studies at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

, the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

and the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...

. He published several economic works in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. He returned to

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, Croa ...

after the end of Communism in 1990. He was elected Member of Parliament from the Hungarian Democratic Forum's Budapest Regional List in the 1990 parliamentary election. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Tax and Finance from 3 May 1990 and 21 December 1990. He was also a member of the Committee on European Community Affairs from 23 June 1992 and the Committee on Human Rights, Minorities and Religious Affairs from 15 June 1993. Bethlen served as President of the Hungarian branch of the

Paneuropean Union The International Paneuropean Union, also referred to as the Pan-European Movement and the Pan-Europa Movement, is the oldest European unification movement. It began with the publishing of Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's manifesto ''P ...

(MPUE) from 1994 to 2012. He died on 4 September 2018, at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethlen, Istvan 1946 births 2018 deaths Istvan University of Innsbruck alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni University of Vienna alumni Hungarian economists Hungarian Democratic Forum politicians Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Politicians from Cluj-Napoca