Tamás Deutsch (born 27 July 1966) is a Hungarian politician and

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 ...

(MEP) from

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 ...

. He is a member of

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 ...

, part of the

Patriots for Europe Patriots for Europe (PfE or Patriots) is a right-wing to far-right sovereigntist political group, formed as the third-largest group ahead of the tenth European Parliament. The group includes all but one member from the Identity and Democracy g ...

group. He was a member of the

Hungarian Parliament The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member ...

between 1990 and 2009 and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports between 1999 and 2002.

Political career

He finished Kaffka Margit Secondary School in Budapest in 1984. He studied at the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

of 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 ...

of Budapest from 1986 to 1992, and graduated in 1999. He was a member of the Social Science Circle of Law Students from 1987 (which was renamed as Bibó István Circle of Law Students in 1988). He has been a member of the Hungarian association of the International Children's Safety Service since May 1990. He was vice president of the

Hungarian Olympic Committee The Hungarian Olympic Committee (, , MOB) is the National Olympic Committee representing Hungary. History The Hungarian Olympic Committee was founded on 19 December 1895, as sixth in the world, following the French, Greek, American, German a ...

from 1999 to 2001. OrbanViktor and deutchTamas

In 1988 he participated in the foundation of

and was one of its spokespersons from March to October 1988. He was a member of the National Board from 1988 to 1990. He was an organiser of the ceremonial reburial of

Imre Nagy Imre Nagy ( ; ; 7 June 1896 – 16 June 1958) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (''de facto'' Prime Minister of Hungary, Prime Minis ...

and his fellow politicians on 16 June 1989. He was campaign manager in the 1990 local elections and the 1998 parliamentary elections. Re-elected in all of the party elections, he held the office of Fidesz' deputy president from April 1993 to May 2003. He headed the Budapest organisation of the party from 2001 to 2004. He was elected member of the General Assembly of the Municipality of Budapest and faction leader of Fidesz, he resigned from his post as Assembly faction leader on 16 September 2003. He had been an MP since 1990 (elected from the Budapest list in 1990 and 1994, and representing Constituency 9, Budapest, 7th district). He was elected deputy leader of the Fidesz faction in Parliament in April 1990, and was re-elected in 1994 as well as 1998. He was "notarie of age" ("notaries of age" are the four youngest Members in the constituent sitting) in 1990 and 1994. He was minister for Youth and Sports from 1 January 1999 to 27 May 2002. He was elected deputy faction leader of Fidesz in May 2002. He was elected deputy speaker of Parliament on 8 December 2003 and took office on 1 February 2004. In the parliamentary elections in 2006 he secured a seat from national (elective) list. He was a vice chairman of the Committee on Immunity, Incompatibility and Mandate. He resigned from his mandate in 2009, when he became 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 ...

. Following the 2014 Internet tax protests,

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...

commissioned Deutsch to organize the conditions for so-called "national consultation" and compile its questions. Deutsch was appointed Prime Ministerial Commissioner for the Digital Prosperity Programme on 19 December 2014. In December 2020, fellow group members called for Deutsch's exclusion from their group after Deutsch had compared a statement of their

group leader ''Breaking Bad'' is a crime drama franchise created by American filmmaker Vince Gilligan. It started with the television series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–13), and is followed by a prequel/sequel series, ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–22), and a seq ...

Manfred Weber Manfred Weber (born 14 July 1972) is a German politician who has been serving as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European ...

alike to the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

's and

ÁVH The State Protection Authority (, ÁVH) was the secret police of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1945 to 1956. The ÁVH was conceived as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's KGB in Hungary responsible for supporting the ruling Hun ...

's principles. Two weeks later the group decided not to exclude him.

Private life

Tamás Deutsch is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. He divorced twice. His second wife was Ágnes Sarolta Für, a daughter of former

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Lajos Für Lajos Für (21 December 1930 – 22 October 2013) was a Hungarian politician and historian, who served as Minister of Defence between 1990 and 1994. From 1994 to 1996 he was also chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the ruling con ...

, is a program organiser. During this marriage Deutsch took his wife's last name, so his name was ''Tamás Deutsch-Für'' between 2006 and 2008. He has five children. One of his sons,

Bence Deutsch Bence Deutsch (born 4 August 1992) is a Hungarian professional footballer who plays for Tatabánya. His father is Tamás Deutsch, a politician and chairman of the MTK Budapest FC. Club career On 1 July 2022, Deutsch joined Nyíregyháza ...

, played as a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

for the junior team of

MTK Budapest FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a professional Association football, football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The club currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The club's colours are blue ...

. Tamás Deutsch became chairman of MTK on 26 May 2010. He was one of the candidates for the post of chairman of the Hungarian Fencing Federation in 2012, but lost to Zsolt Csampa.

Twitter incident

After the

Őszöd speech The Őszöd speech () was a speech Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány delivered to the 2006 Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) congress in Balatonőszöd. Though the May congress was confidential, Gyurcsány's address was leaked and br ...

, and after the 50th anniversary commemorations of the Revolution of 1956, during which the police brutally attacked peaceful protesters at a Fidesz rally, on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, Deutsch wrote: "There are vile people. There are madmen of ill-will. There are disgusting stinkers. There are loathsome faggots. And there is Gyurcsány." In an interview with HVG, Deutsch acknowledged his words about Gyurcsány. On 27 July he tweeted: "Who the fuck is Thomas Melia?" This remark was widely condemned by liberals and socialists. Commenting on his remarks, Deutsch called them

humor Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...

ous, a kind of

standup comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

References

External links

Homepage of Tamás Deutsch at the Hungarian Parliament

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsch, Tamas Fidesz politicians 1966 births Jewish Hungarian politicians Living people Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2006–2010) Fidesz MEPs MEPs for Hungary 2009–2014 MEPs for Hungary 2014–2019 MEPs for Hungary 2019–2024 MEPs for Hungary 2024–2029 Government ministers of Hungary