László Békesi (born 31 May 1942) is a Hungarian politician, who served as

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

twice: between 1989-1990 and from 1994 to 1995.

Biography

Early life

He was an

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

when he was ten years old, he was member of the national youth team. He finished high-school studies 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 ...

. He could have got into the university without admission one, because he was honored on the OKTV educational competition. However the

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in ...

did not admit him. According to the institution Békesi's material conditions were not provided for his learning, because his father died early. However the real reason was that he derived from a religious family. Békesi became a breadwinner, he worked for parish councils of

Albertirsa Albertirsa (formerly ''Alberti-Irsa'', ) is a town in '' Ceglédi kistérség'', ''Pest megye'', and the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain. History Initially Albertirsa was two separate inhabitations: ''Alberti'' and ''Irsa'', having joined i ...

and Dánszentmiklós. Later he was put it on for the College of Finance and Accountancy's evening course later. His teacher was Lajos Faluvégi, who later became Minister of Finance and dealt with the economical reform. From 1967 he worked as a chief

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

for the Council of Pest County 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 ...

. He joined to the MSZMP in 1968 and he was appointed head of the financial department and later general deputy chairman of the Council of Pest County. He became economical vice president of the Capital Council of Budapest in 1975 and member of the Committee of Planning Board. Békesi graduated at the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences. His speciality is the councils' farming from the collegiate years, later this was supplemented by the public finance and the questions of the fiscal systems.

First ministerial term

His political and vocational career rose in parallel. He was appointed titular university professor in 1981, during that time also served as economic-political secretary of the party's Committee of Budapest. Until 1985 he was member of the Central Committee's economic panel. In 1984 he was also member of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, which decided about the boycott of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

(

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) at this time. The committee voted for the boycotting beside three abstentions and one "not" vote. Békesi was one of the three who abstained, and lost his secretary position in 1985 in a party disciplinary action. However István Hetényi supported him and made him his substitute. László Békesi was the Communist regime's last Minister of Finance between 10 May 1989 and 23 May 1990.

References

Békesi László életrajza az Országgyűlés honlapján (1996. május 6.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekesi, Laszlo 1942 births Living people People from Győr Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Finance ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Corvinus University of Budapest alumni