László Kovács (politician)

This article is about the politician. See also László Kovács (cinematographer).

The native form of this personal name is Kovács László. This article uses the Western name order.

László Kovács
European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union
In office 22 November 2004 – 9 February 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Frits Bolkestein (Internal Market, Taxation and Customs Union)
Succeeded by	Algirdas Šemeta (Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud)
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary
In office 27 May 2002 – 29 September 2004
Prime Minister	Péter Medgyessy
Preceded by	Géza Jeszenszky
Succeeded by	János Martonyi
In office 15 July 1994 – 6 July 1998
Prime Minister	Gyula Horn
Preceded by	János Martonyi
Succeeded by	Ferenc Somogyi
Personal details
Born	(1939-07-03) 3 July 1939 Budapest, Hungary
Political party	Socialist Party

László Kovács (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈlaːsloː ˈkovaːtʃ]) (born 3 July 1939 in Budapest) is a Hungarian politician and diplomat, former European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union. He was the foreign minister of Hungary twice, from 1994 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2004. He also served as chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party from 1998 to 2004.

In 2004, Kovács was nominated to serve as the Hungarian member of the European Commission, which was to take office on 1 November 2004. His apparent unsuitability for his proposed role as Energy Commissioner was one of the reasons why the European Parliament refused to endorse the proposed new Commission. However, the Hungarian government did not nominate a new commissioner in his place, therefore in the revised setup of the Commission, serving from 22 November 2004, he was finally appointed as Commissioner responsible for Taxation and Customs Union.

László Andor became the next Hungarian European Commissioner in the second Barroso Commission. Kovács returned to Hungary and was elected to the National Assembly of Hungary.

External links

• Official website

Political offices
Preceded by Géza Jeszenszky	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1994–1998	Succeeded by János Martonyi
Preceded by Gyula Horn	Leader of the Opposition 1998–2002	Succeeded by Zoltán Pokorni
Preceded by János Martonyi	Minister of Foreign Affairs 2002–2004	Succeeded by Ferenc Somogyi
Preceded by Péter Balázs	Hungarian European Commissioner 2004–2010	Succeeded by László Andor
Preceded by Frits Bolkestein as European Commissioner for Internal Market, Taxation and Customs Union	European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union 2004–2010	Succeeded by Algirdas Šemeta as European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud
National Assembly of Hungary
Preceded by Imre Szekeres	Leader of the MSZP parliamentary group 1998–2000	Succeeded by Sándor Nagy
Party political offices
Preceded by Gyula Horn	Chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party 1998–2004	Succeeded by István Hiller
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Antonio Martino Italy	Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE 1995	Succeeded by Flavio Cotti Switzerland