János Szabó (29 October 1937 – 25 February 2021) was a Hungarian jurist and politician, who served as Minister of Agriculture between 1993 and 1994.

Career

János Szabó was born in Tápiószentmárton in 1937, as the only child of farmer József Szabó and Margit Mester. His father was a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

from January 1945 to July 1947. János attended elementary school in his birthplace. He finished his secondary studies at the Kossuth Lajos Gymnasium in

Cegléd Cegléd (; ) is a city in Pest County, Pest county, Hungary, approximately southeast of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Name The name of the town is of disputed origin. The name may be derived from the word "szeglet" (meaning "corner") due to i ...

in 1956. He earned a degree in law at the Faculty of Law of the

University of Szeged The University of Szeged () is a Public university, public research university in Szeged, Hungary. Established as the Jesuit Academy of Kolozsvár in present-day Cluj-Napoca in 1581, the institution was re-established as a university in 1872 by ...

(SZTE) in 1960. He worked for the Military Prosecutor's Office of

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

and

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, then for the Council of

Csongrád County Csongrád (; , archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd,'' ) is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. History At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the Maros Valley was under Bulgarian control. The fortre ...

between 1960 and 1965. He became a practicing lawyer in 1965, as a member of the

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

No. 1 Bar Association.Horváth, Zsolt (ed.): ''Az 1990-ben megválasztott Országgyűlés almanachja'' he Elected Members of the National Assembly of Hungary, 1990 Országgyűlés, Budapest, 1992. p. 368. He suspended his legal practice in 1990.Bölöny, József – Hubai, László: Magyarország kormányai 1848–2004 abinets of Hungary 1848–2004 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2004 (5th edition). p. 443. At the height of the

transition to democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...

, Szabó joined

Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party (), is a political party in Budapest, Hungary. During its existence, the party participated ...

(FKGP) in August 1989. He was elected prosecutor of the party's Győr-Moson-Sopron County branch in the autumn of that year. He ran for an individual seat for Győr (Győr-Moson-Sopron County Constituency I) during the 1990 parliamentary election, where he came to the third place after László Medgyasszay ( MDF) and Dorottya Büky (

SZDSZ 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 ...

). He obtained a mandate from his party's local county list. In the parliament, Szabó was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Legislation and Justice from 1990 to 1991 and from 1992 to 1993 (serving as its vice-chairman in the latter period). Briefly, he was also a member of the Municipal, Administrative, Homeland Security and Police Committee from 1991 to 1992, and the Rules of Procedure Committee in 1992. The coalition between the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and the Independent Smallholders' Party, led by

József Torgyán József Torgyán (16 November 1932 − 22 January 2017) was a Hungarian lawyer and politician, chairman of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1991−2002), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (1998−2001) i ...

broke up in February 1992. Szabó joined that faction of the

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

which intended to remain in the government. The majority of the caucus, the ''Group of 33 MPs'', later 36 MPs continued to support the government, while FKGP (''Group of 12 MPs'' then 10 MPs) went into opposition. Szabó was elected leader of the pro-government parliamentary group in September 1992, holding the position until February 1993.

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

József Antall József Tihamér Antall Jr. (, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected prime minister of Hungary, holding office from May 1990 until his d ...

appointed him Minister of Agriculture on 23 February 1993. Meanwhile, the pro-government smallholders' faction formed the

United Smallholders' Party The United Historical Smallholders and Civic Party (, ), known mostly by its acronym EKGP or its shortened form United Smallholders' Party (), was an agrarianist political party in Hungary, after having several MPs and cabinet members left the Ind ...

(EKGP) as a formal organizational unit on 6 November 1993. Szabó was elected the first party chairman of the party on 19 December 1993. Szabó retained his ministerial position in the government of

Péter Boross Péter Boross (born 27 August 1928) is a Hungarian retired politician and former member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from December 1993 to July 1994. He assumed the position upon the death of h ...

too until 15 July 1994. During the 1994 parliamentary election, the EKGP received only 0.82 percent of the vote, while its main rival the Torgyán-led FKGP again entered the parliament with 8.82 percent of the vote, thus Szabó lost his parliamentary seat. On 17 December 1994, Szabó was replaced by Géza Zsiros as party leader. He retired from national politics thereafter. He returned to the FKGP in 2002. Szabó was a member of the local representative body of Tápiószentmárton from 1998 to 2010.

Personal life

János Szabó married Gabriella Pethő in 1962. They had two children, lawyer László (b. 1964) and Katalin (b. 1971). Szabó was granted honorary citizenship of Tápiószentmárton in 1994, for "the development of his birthplace, for the aging of the good reputation of the village, for the help of the construction of the Tápiószentmárton- Albertirsa connecting road". He often played on his tárogató at local events. Szabó died on 25 February 2021, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szabo, Janos 1937 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Hungarian lawyers University of Szeged alumni People from Pest County Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party politicians Ministers of agriculture of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994)