Lajos Simicska

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Lajos Simicska (born January 28, 1960 in Székesfehérvár ) is a Hungarian entrepreneur.

Life

Lajos Simicska graduated from Székesfehérvár in 1979. He began studying law at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest , it is not known whether he graduated. During our studies, Viktor Orbán , who was three years his junior, and he lived in the “Bibó Szakkollégium” student residence. In 1988 he was one of the supporters of the civil rights movement and later Fidesz party . In 1993 he became the party's treasurer. Between 1998 and 1999, during Orbán's first term in office, he was head of the state tax authority “Adó és Pénzügyi Ellenőrzési Hivatal” (ÁPEH, Office for Tax and Financial Auditing). After his retirement he almost never appeared in public, but built up a corporate empire in the following years, including the privatized equipment and construction company Közgép and the advertising company "Mahir Cityposter". The company also owns the television broadcaster Hír Televízió , the newspaper Magyar Nemzet and possibly also the broadcaster TV2 , although the ownership and influence relationships are difficult to understand .

Simicska was Fidesz's main donor when it was in the parliamentary opposition between 2002 and 2010. Conversely, he benefited from the EU-funded road construction projects when Orbán re-formed the government in 2010 . After Orbán's third term in office began in May 2014, the relationship between the two of them was disrupted because Orbán appointed Miklós Seszták as Minister for National Development to reorganize the award of public works contracts. This announced that construction companies would be liable for botched road construction if the EU demanded their funds back. In February 2015, there was a public break because the Orbán government wanted to subject private media companies to a special tax and to reorganize the award of public advertising contracts. The editors-in-chief of the Simicska-controlled media Hír TV, Lánchíd Rádió and Magyar Nemzet resigned in solidarity with Orbán. Since then, Simicska has criticized the government's policy, not leaving out any words of insult ( geci ) offered by the Hungarian language.

In June 2016, Simicska gave up the Budapest advertising paper Metropol because he saw no opportunity to compete with the Lokál advertising paper launched by Árpád Habony on behalf of Orbán .

In April 2018 it was announced that Simicska will also shut down Lanchid Radio and the Magyar Nemzet newspaper . The reason are financial problems.

Web links

  • Lajos Simicska , in: The Orange Files, Notes on the End of Liberal Democracy in Hungary , Blog, accessed June 29, 2016

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Olivier Guez , Peter Esterházy : In conversation , in: der Freitag , July 2, 2015, p. 3
  2. ↑ Meret Baumann: Orban settling accounts with an oligarch , in: NZZ , 23 September 2014
  3. ↑ vulgar for semen
  4. ^ A male friendship in ruins , in: FAZ , February 7, 2015
  5. ↑ Cathrin Kahlweit : Orbán threatens a new media war , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 8, 2015
  6. ^ Hungary: Empire of media entrepreneur Simicska collapses. Retrieved April 10, 2018 .


personal data
SURNAME Simicska, Lajos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Székesfehérvár