Péter Szijjártó Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Péter Szijjártó has served as Hungary's Foreign Minister since 23 September 2014. Since then, the portfolio of the top ministry has been expanded to include foreign trade, as it is of paramount importance to the Hungarian Government that domestic businesses enter international markets in greater numbers and engage more boldly in export and import activities. Born in Komárom in 1978, Péter Szijjártó graduated from the Czuczor Gergely Benedictine High School in Győr and obtained a Master's degree in Foreign Affairs from the Budapest University of Economics and Public Administration.
He has been a Fidesz representative since 2002, and began his fifth term in parliament in 2018. He served as Fidesz's communications director from 2006 to 2010, as the Prime Minister's spokesperson from 2010 to 2012, and as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Prime Minister's Office from 2012 to 2014. Married, father of two children. He was a certified futsal player in the Hungarian first and second divisions for 5 years.
dr. Péter Sztáray State Secretary for Security Policy
Within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dr Péter Sztáray, State Secretary for Security Policy, has been appointed to oversee the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of Europe.During his 28-year career in foreign affairs, Mr Sztáray has gained a wide experience, especially in the field of international organisations.
He first worked as a NATO and Western Europe officer, and then served as diplomat at the Permanent Mission of Hungary to NATO in Brussels from 1996 to 2000. In 2002, he was appointed Head of Division in the Americas Department, then returned to the Foreign Service and served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Hungary to NATO for four years from 2003. From 2010 to 2013 he was appointed Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Deputy State Secretary. From 2013 he served for five years as Hungary's Permanent Representative to NATO in Brussels. Since 2018, he has been State Secretary for Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2010 he was granted the rank of Ambassador.
Harry Alex Rusz Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Since March 2020, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Harry Alex Rusz has been Hungary's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe. Prior to this, he worked for ten years at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union; as Ambassador, he was a Hungarian member of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European Union for five years, representing Hungarian interests. During his career in foreign affairs, which began in 1998, he has also gained considerable professional experience in bilateral diplomacy. He has previously served as a diplomat at the Hungarian Embassies in Vienna and Zagreb. In addition to his studies in Budapest, he has also studied in France, the United Kingdom and Austria, graduating from the Vienna Diplomatic Academy in 1997. He speaks a high level of English, French, German, Serbian and Croatian.
Zsolt Németh COE PACE Hungarian Delegation Chairman
Zsolt Németh has been chair of the Hungarian COE PACE delegation since 2014. His professional career in politics looks back to a long time. He has been a Hungarian Member of Parliament since 1990 and a founding member of FIDESZ. Since the beginning of his career, he has been working on foreign affairs. He has been State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on several occasions and is currently Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. He is fulfilling several positions in the Council of Europe; currently he is the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Chairman of Committee on the Political Affairs and Democracy. He graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest and Oxford University. He speaks English and Russian at an advanced level and German at an intermediate level.
András Ferenc Kalmár Ministerial Commissioner for the Development of Hungary's Neighbourhood Policy
Ferenc Kalmár was born on 18 May 1955 in Brasov. In 1980 he graduated in physics from the University of Bucharest, and in 1989 he received a degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Budapest. He joined the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) in 1991 and served as a municipal councillor in Szeged from 1994 to 2014. In 2003, he was elected as national vice-president of the KDNP, a position he held until 2015. He also served as Vice-Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Minorities for one year. He is also responsible for the report on the situation and rights of national minorities in Europe, which was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly in 2014, together with Resolution 1985/2014. Since 2015, he has been the Ministerial Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, co-chair of the six Minority Mixed Committees of Hungary.
Hajnalka Juhász Ministerial Commissioner for the Development of International Relations in the context of the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from May to November 2021
As of 2019, Dr. Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, appointed Dr. Hajnalka Juhász as Ministerial Commissioner for the Development of International Relations in the context of the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of Europe from 1 January 2021 to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers from May to November 2021. Dr Hajnalka Juhász is also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Dr. Katalin Szili Prime Minister’s Special Appointy
Katalin Szili is a lawyer, political scientist and human ecologist by education. She was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2014 and President of Parliament from 2002 to 2009. She is the founder and Honorary President of the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) and the founder of the Carpathian Basin Representatives Forum (CBRF).
One of the cornerstones of her political career has been the protection of minorities, an issue she has made a priority as Speaker of the House and later as Prime Minister's Commissioner. Convinced that the European Union should adopt principles that can respond to new challenges, he and Ferenc Kalmár developed five principles for the protection of national minorities.
She considers it an essential part of minority protection that Europe's citizens are free to live and represent their national identities. The European Citizens' Initiatives, of which the Minority SafePack and the protection of national regions in the context of cohesion policy are examples of the kind of instruments he supports, and which are of particular importance in this respect, and can also strengthen confidence in Europe's democratic institutions.