László Tőkés

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László Tőkés, 2010

László Tőkés (born April 1, 1952 in Cluj ) is a member of the Hungarian minority in Romania and an Evangelical Reformed clergyman, who is considered to be the trigger for the Romanian revolution . He is Bishop Emeritus of the Hungarian Reformed Church and President of the Hungarian National Council in Transylvania . He is currently a member of the European Parliament for the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

A pastor as a dissident

In the summer of 1988 he organized the resistance of Hungarian reformed pastors against the systematisation program of Nicolae Ceaușescu , which aroused the attention of the secret service Securitate . After the secret service opposed the holding of a cultural festival in October 1988, which was organized together with the Roman Catholic Church in Timisoara , Bishop László Papp prohibited all youth activities in the Oradea region (to which Timișoara belongs). Even so, Tőkés worked with the bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church at another festival in the spring of 1989.

On March 31, 1989, Papp Tőkés ordered the sermons in Timișoara to be stopped and to move to the remote village of Mineu (Hungarian: Menyő) in Sălaj County . Tőkés resisted this order and his community supported him. The bishop went to court to force him to evacuate his rectory. Although his electricity was cut, his parishioners continued to side with him. One of them, Ernő Ujvárossy, was found murdered in a forest outside Timișoara on September 14, and Tőkés' father was briefly arrested.

In September 1989, Tőkés expressed himself critical of the regime about Ceaușescu and his rule on Hungarian state television. A video message reached Budapest on “secret paths” and was broadcast from there. At that time, Hungarian state television could be received relatively easily in western Romania with the help of television antennas. This is how part of the population was informed.

On October 20th of the same year, Tőkés was to be forcibly relocated. The then mayor of Timișoara, Petru Moț , could not carry out the forced relocation . Devout Hungarians, as well as Germans, Serbs and Romanians, especially young people, kept vigils in front of his house. The tense situation reached its climax between December 15 and 17, when the military, police and secret service tried to drive the crowd away, including with gunfire. There are contradicting figures about the death toll. On the orders of Elena Ceaușescu , 40 dead were driven in trucks to Bucharest and cremated to make it impossible to identify the bodies. On December 18, tens of thousands of industrial workers in Timisoara took up nonviolent resistance, and by December 20, the whole city was in an uproar.

Political career

In the European elections that took place in Romania on November 25, 2007 , Tőkés ran as an independent candidate. With a share of the vote of 3.44% he succeeded in entering the European Parliament . There he joined the group The Greens / European Free Alliance . For the European elections in Romania in 2009 , László Tőkés was the top candidate for the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania , which enabled him to return to the EU Parliament. In the EU Parliament this party is part of the parliamentary group of the European People's Party , of which he is a member of the executive committee.

He is a member of the Committee on Culture and Education , the Human Rights Subcommittee and the Delegation for relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. He is an alternate member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Delegation for relations with the United States.

On June 15, 2010, Tőkés was elected Vice-President of Parliament after one of the previous Vice-Presidents, Pál Schmitt , left parliament. Tőkés had the support of the recently elected Hungarian government under Viktor Orbán , but his election met with fierce criticism from members of the Romanian nationalist party PRM .

In December 2010, the National Council of Hungarians in Transylvania (CNMT), chaired by László Tőkés, decided to found the new People's Party of Hungarians in Transylvania ( Romanian Partidul Popular al Maghiarilor din Ardeal (PPMA) , Hungarian Erdélyi Magyar Néppart ) May 2011 was applied for in Bucharest and was entered in the Romanian register of parties by decision of the local court of appeal on September 15, 2011. Although Tőkés is not mentioned on the list of founding members, he is still considered to be the leader of the new party, also known as the László Tőkés Party . The party calls for territorial autonomy for the Szeklerland and is supported by the Prime Minister of Hungary , Viktor Orbán .

In the European elections that took place in Hungary on May 25, 2014 , Tőkés was supported by the Prime Minister of Hungary , Viktor Orbán , and stood as a FIDESZ candidate.

Honors

  • Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (1999)
  • "Fidelitate" Prize (Hungary, 1999)
  • Grand Leopold Kunschak Prize (Austria, 1998)
  • Minority Prize of the CIEMEN Center of Catalonia (Barcelona, ​​Spain, 1996)
  • Hungarian Heritage Award (Hungary, 1996)
  • Bocskay Prize (Hungary, 1995)
  • "Pro Fide" Prize (Finland, 1993)
  • Member of the Order of St. John (1993)
  • Member of the European Honorary Senate (1992)
  • Geuzenpenning Prize (Holland, 1991)
  • Doctor Honoris Causa from Hope College University (Holland, Michigan, USA, 1991)
  • Doctor Honoris Causa of the Reformed Theological Academy Debrecen (Hungary, 1990)
  • Doctor Honoris Causa from Regent University (Virginia Beach, USA, 1990)
  • Four Freedoms Award , in the religious freedom category (Netherlands, 1990)
  • Nominated for the Nobel Prize (1990)
  • Bethlen Gábor Prize (Hungary, 1990)
  • Berzsenyi Prize (Hungary, 1989)
  • Honorary citizen of the cities of Sárospatak (Hungary) and Odorheiu Secuiesc (Romania) as well as the districts V and XI of Budapest (Hungary)
  • Knight of the Star of Romania (2009, revoked 2016)

See also

Web links

Commons : László Tőkés  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ harangszo.blogspot.com , Harangszó: Beiktatták Királyhágómellék új püspökét ( German  New Bishop of Királyhágómellék ), January 17, 2010, in Hungarian, accessed on September 26, 2011
  2. ↑ hotnews.ro , V. Olaru: Final results for first European elections in Romania , November 27, 2007, in English, accessed on September 26, 2011
  3. ↑ europarl.europa.eu , European Parliament website, accessed on August 9, 2009
  4. ^ Website of the European Parliament
  5. ↑ euractiv.com , EurActiv : Budapest appoints ethnic Hungarians as EP Vice-Presidents , June 16, 2010, partly in English, accessed on September 26, 2011
  6. ↑ punkto.ro , László Tőkés turns his back on the Hungarian Association and founds his own party , December 6, 2010, accessed on September 26, 2011
  7. ↑ temeswar.diplo.de , Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, press review 2.-6. May 2011, adevarul.ro, accessed September 26, 2011
  8. ↑ adz.ro , Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Romania : UDMR cannot decide on Roşia Montană , September 20, 2011, accessed on September 26, 2011
  9. ↑ punkto.ro , Tökes Party legally admitted , September 16, 2011, accessed on September 26, 2011
  10. ^ Faz.net , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Karl-Peter Schwarz: Emil Boc und Frankreichs Lange Schatten , June 20, 2011, accessed on March 4, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Tőkés, László
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian Magyar, Evangelical Reformed bishop and politician, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Cluj