Péter Balázs

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Péter Balázs (disambiguation) .

Péter Balázs

Péter Balázs / ˈpetɛr ˈbɒlaːʒ / (born December 5, 1941 in Kecskemét , Hungary ) is a Hungarian politician and was EU Commissioner in the Commission of Romano Prodi . Afterwards he was commissioner for the " Magistrale for Europe ", the route Paris - Budapest / Bratislava . From April 16, 2009 to May 29, 2010 he was Hungarian Foreign Minister.

Balázs graduated from the Budapest University of Economics with a degree in economics in 1963. There he received his habilitation in 2000.

Before starting his political career, he worked as an economist at Elektroimpex between 1963 and 1969. In 1969 Balázs joined the Ministry of Foreign Trade, where he stayed until 1982. He continued his political career at the Hungarian Embassy in Brussels (1982–1987), in the Prime Minister's Office (1987–1988), in the Ministry of International Economic Relations (1988–1992) and again in the Ministry of Industry and Trade (1992–1993) away. From 1994 to 1996 he was the Hungarian ambassador to Denmark , from 1997 to 2000 to Germany . After two years as a professor at the University of Economic and Administrative Sciences in Budapest , he became State Secretary in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry in 2002. A year later he became Hungary's ambassador to the European Union .

Between May 1st 2004 and November 2004 he was a member of the European Commission . There he was responsible for regional policy, together with Michel Barnier and later with Jacques Barrot .

After the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány , his successor Gordon Bajnai Balázs appointed Foreign Minister to his cabinet. The new government was sworn in on April 20, 2009.

Balázs is a member of various economic and political associations in Hungary. In addition to Hungarian , he speaks German , English , French , Polish and Russian . In October 2013 Balázs was a guest at the "Fireside Talk" of the International Economic Forum in Baden-Baden.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Report in the newspaper The Budapest Times (English)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Homepage of Péter Balázs on the website of the European Commission
• Info page of the "Main Line for Europe"