István Bethlen (19 June 1946 – 4 September 2018) was a Hungarian economist and politician, member of the National Assembly (MP) from MDF

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 ...

Regional List between 1990 and 1994.

Biography

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

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, which was already part of the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

again after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in his youth. He finished his academic studies at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

, the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

and the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. He published several economic works in English and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. He returned to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

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 an international organisation and the oldest European unification movement. It began with the publishing of Richard von Coudenh ...

(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