László Maróthy

László Maróthy (1982)

László Maróthy (born December 25, 1942 in Szeghalom , Békés county ) is a former Hungarian politician of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , who was first secretary of the Communist Youth Association KISZ between 1973 and 1980 and later vice-prime minister, chairman the Planning Commission and Minister for Environment and Water Management. On the XI. Party Congress on March 22, 1975 he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MSZMP and was a member of this top management body of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party until May 22, 1988.

Life

Studies, youth functionary and member of parliament

Maróthy, the son of a car mechanic, completed a degree in agricultural engineering at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Gödöllő GATE (Gödöllői Agrártudományi Egyetemen) after attending school and graduated with a diploma. During his studies he began his political career at KISZ (Magyar Kommunista Ifjúsági Szövetség) , the youth association of the MSZMP, and in 1965 he was first secretary and in 1967 first secretary of this youth organization at GATE. In 1968 Maróthy, who became a member of the MSZMP in 1965, took over the position of secretary for agitation and propaganda of the KISZ in Pest County and then in 1970 that of the first secretary of the MSZMP city council of Szentendre .

In 1973, Maróthy succeeded István Horváth as First Secretary of the KISZ and held this position for seven years until he was replaced by György Fejti in 1980. He also became a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the MSZMP with effect from November 1, 1973 , to which he belonged to October 1989. On the XI. Party Congress on March 22, 1975 he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MSZMP and was a member of this top management body of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party until May 22, 1988.

After completing his work as First Secretary of the KISZ, he became First Secretary of the MSZMP in Budapest on December 3, 1980 and remained in this post for four years until December 7, 1984.

On April 12, 1981, Maróthy was elected as a candidate of the MSZMP for the first time as a member of parliament (Országgyűlés) and represented there first the constituency of Budapest 33 and then from June 8, 1985 to March 19, 1990 the Békés county.

Vice Prime Minister, Chairman of the Planning Commission and Minister

On December 6, 1984, Maróthy became vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers and was thus deputy to Prime Minister György Lázár until December 6, 1987 .

At the same time he was a member of the State Planning Commission between 1985 and 1986, then from December 30, 1986 to December 16, 1987 a member of the National Planning Office. In addition, he was a member of the government's science policy committee from 1985 to 1986, and in January 1987 he also became chairman of the commission for the award of the Kossuth Prize . He was also a member of the Economic Policy Committee of the MSZMP between December 1986 and May 1988.

In the government of Prime Ministers Károly Grósz and Miklós Németh he served as chairman of the State Planning Commission from 1987 to 1988 and was also Minister for Environment and Water Management from December 16, 1987 to November 21, 1989. He had to resign from this ministerial office because of the planned construction of the Bos-Nagymaros power plant on the Danube . As early as 1981 the Hungarian government wanted to suspend the project for financial reasons. In 1984, Hungarian environmentalists affirmed the ecological concerns about this mammoth project with a signature campaign. After the end of the János Kádár government in 1988, after a scientific investigation of the ecological consequences of the project, the new government stopped all work in Hungary without giving a reason, while Slovakia continued the construction of the Gabčíkovo power plant 120 kilometers away .

Web links

• Entry in Történelmi Tár (Hungarian)