László Varju (born 22 August 1961) is a Hungarian politician and mining engineer. He has been 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 ...

of Hungary since 2002. He served as Secretary of State for National Development and Economy from 2008 to 2010.

Profession

László Varju was born on 22 August 1961 in

Komló Komló (, , ) is a town in Baranya county, Hungary. The name of the settlement is derived from the local crop of hops (komló), an ingredient of beer. By the 18th century a depiction of this plant running up a support already featured on the heral ...

Baranya County Baranya (, ; German language, German:Croatian language, Croatian:'' Baranjska županija'') is a Counties of Hungary, county () in southern Hungary. It is part of the Southern Transdanubia statistical region and the historical Baranya (region), B ...

. He spent his childhood in

Mágocs Mágocs () is a town in Baranya County, Hungary. Demographics In 2023, the town had a total population of 2077. As of 2022, the town was 90.8% Hungarian, 7.6% German, 5.9% Gypsy, and 1.6% of non-European origin. The population was 48.5% Roman C ...

. He attended Károly Zipernovszky Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

, where he obtained a qualification of electrical technician in 1979. He also obtained a qualification in collier, blasting and mining at the Mining Technical School in Pécs. He worked for the Mecsek Ore Mining Company between 1979 and 1989. After 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 ...

, he managed a company in the private sector between 1989 and 1992.Varju László életrajza a parlament.hu
– parlament.hu, 2010-05-21. In 2005 he studied at

Szent István University The Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences is a university of technology in Hungary. Its headquarters and main campus are located about 30 kilometres from the capital, Budapest, in the Central Hungarian town of Gödöllő. Ot ...

as an economist, but he graduated from Károly Róbert College with a degree in economics (present-day both part of the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Science) and graduated from

Corvinus University of Budapest Corvinus University of Budapest () is a private university, private research university in Budapest, Hungary. The university currently has an enrolment of approximately 9,600 students, with a primary focus on business administration, economics, ...

in 2008. Currently he is a PhD student at the Miklós Zrínyi University of National Defense (ZMNE) and its successor, the

National University of Public Service The Ludovika University of Public Service (LUPS; ) is a higher educational institution in Budapest, Hungary. Established in 2012, it is one of the youngest universities in Central and Eastern Europe; however, its faculties as former independe ...

(NKE). He is married and father of two daughters and a son.

Political career

Varju was a founding member of the

Hungarian Socialist Party The Hungarian Socialist Party (, ), commonly known by its acronym MSZP (), is a centre-left to left-wing social-democratic and pro-European political party in Hungary. It was founded on 7 October 1989 as a post-communist evolution and one of t ...

(MSZP) since 1989. He served as vice-president of the Left Youth Association (BIT), the youth organization of the party, from 1992 to 1995. Varju was a member of the General Assembly of Pest County between 1994 and 2002, where he worked for the youth and sport committee. He was also deputy leader of the MSZP caucus in the county assembly during the eight-year period. Varju served as mayor of

Taksony Taksony () is a town of roughly 6,000 inhabitants roughly 23 kilometers south of Budapest, on the bank of the Ráckeve branch of the Danube known as Kisduna (Little Danube). Taksony is known for its many natural springs and tranquil scenery and s ...

from 2002 to 2006. He was defeated by an independent candidate László Kreisz in the 2006 local elections. He was elected a Member of Parliament via his party's regional list of Pest County in the 2002 parliamentary election,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and 2010 parliamentary elections. He was a member of the Regional Development Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was also Chairman of the Central Hungary Regional Development Council from 2007 to 2008. Varju served as Secretary of State for National Development and Economy in the cabinets of

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 ...

and

Gordon Bajnai György Gordon Bajnai (; born 5 March 1968) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and economist, who served as the Prime Minister of Hungary from 2009 to 2010. Prior to that, he functioned as Government of Hungary, Minister of Local Government and Regiona ...

, from 1 December 2008 to 29 May 2010. After the 2010 national election, when the Socialist Party was defeated by

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 ...

, Varju was a member of the Health Committee from 2010 to 2011. Thereafter, Varju became a part of Gyurcsány's inner circle, which heavily criticized the leadership of the MSZP. As a result, he joined Democratic Coalition Platform founded by the former prime minister. When the platform split from the Socialists on 22 October 2011 he joined to the newly formed party and left the MSZP and its

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 ...

. Formally, Varju was an independent MP between 2011 and 2018. He was a member of the Committee on Human Rights, Minorities, Civil and Religious Affairs from 2011 to 2014. Varju failed to win a parliamentary seat during the 2014 parliamentary election. However, fellow DK member

Csaba Molnár Csaba Molnár (born 4 December 1975) is a Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He is a member of the Democratic Coalition. He served as Minister of Transport, Communications and Energy in the second cabinet of Fer ...

resigned because he had become a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

, as a result the DK presidency had asked Varju to fill the vacancy in the Hungarian parliament. He took his seat on 30 June 2014 and worked for the Economic Committee from 2014 to 2017 and for the Committee on Budgets since 2017. He is vice-president of the DK since 2015. Varju was elected MP for

Újpest Újpest (; , ) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary in 1838. Újpest was a village ...

(Budapest Constituency XI) in the 2018 parliamentary election, defeating Fidesz candidate

Barna Pál Zsigmond Barna (Bearna officially and in Irish) is a coastal village on the R336 regional road in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. 7 km west of the centre of Galway city, it has become a satellite village of Galway. The village is Irish speaki ...

. He joined the newly formed Democratic Coalition caucus. He was appointed chairman of the Committee on Budgets in May 2018. In the 2021 Hungarian opposition primaries, his party also ran in Budapest 11 - Újpest, Angyalföld - constituency with the support of the All Hungary Movement. With the support of the opposition parties DK, MSZP, Momentum, Párbeszéd, LMP, Jobbik and the Liberal Party, László Varju won the primary election and the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election in his constituency as the sole candidate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varju, Laszlo 1961 births Living people Corvinus University of Budapest alumni Mayors of places in Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2006–2010) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2010–2014) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2014–2018) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2018–2022) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2022–2026) People from Komló Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Democratic Coalition (Hungary) politicians