Zoltán Varga (born 17 September 1952 in

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

) is a Hungarian engineer-economist and politician. He was the Minister of Local Government in cabinet of

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 ...

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 ...

. Since 2006 he is one of the members of the

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

Political career

He spent his student years in

, although he did his secondary school studies in

Kazincbarcika Kazincbarcika is an industrial town in Borsod–Abaúj–Zemplén county, Northern Hungary. It is the district seat of Kazincbarcika District. It lies in the valley of the Sajó river, from the county capital, Miskolc. History Kazincbarcika ...

, in a Chemical Industry Technical School. He obtained a chemical industry graduate engineer diploma at the Pollack Mihály Technological College 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 ...

. First he obtained a special engineer then an engineer-economist diploma. Although he met his wife, Erzsébet Vági in Pécs, he established a family in

Orosháza Orosháza is a city situated in the westernmost part of Békés (county), Békés county, Hungary, on the Békés ridge bordered by the rivers River Maros, Maros and River Körös, Körös. Orosháza is an important culture, cultural, educational ...

, where in 1979 he worked in the local glassworks as a graduate engineer. In 1997 he left the glassworks in Orosháza as the works manager when he was elected as the president of the Representative Body of

Békés County Békés (, , ) is an administrative division (county or ''vármegye'') in south-eastern Hungary, on the border with Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád-Csanád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Hajdú-Bihar. The capital ...

. From 1998 he worked as a works manager of the industrial park in Orosháza when in the municipal elections he was elected as the president of the general assembly in Békés County again. In 1990 he was a founder member of the Organisation in Orosháza 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 ...

. In 1994 he was elected as the member of the representative body in Békés County. Meanwhile, until 1997 he was the leader of the parliamentary group of the Hungarian Socialist Party. He occupied this position between 1998 and 2002 as well. During this time period he also worked as the president of the Economic Committee. In 2000 he was elected as the party's vice president of the county which position he still occupies. In

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 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

at the parliamentary elections he obtained a mandate on the regional list in Békés County.

Trivia

He has an oral intermediate language exam in English. In his free time he likes playing tennis and going on excursions.

References

*MTI Ki Kicsoda 2009, Magyar Távirati Iroda Zrt., Budapest, 2008, 1159. old.,
Életrajz az MSZP honlapjánVarga országgyűlési adatlapja
1952 births Living people People from Miskolc Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Ministers of the interior of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2006–2010) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2010–2014) Members of the Bajnai Government {{Hungary-politician-stub