Mihály Varga

Mihály Varga is a key figure in the history of Hungarian financial administration, and is credited with managing several economic crises in the 2000s. As Minister of National Economy and then Minister of Finance, he has played and continues to play a significant role in the continuous strengthening of the domestic economy and in the catching-up of Hungary. He is the longest serving Finance Minister in the European Union and was named Finance Minister of the Year in 2015 by Euromoney magazine.

Mihály Varga was born in Karcag on 26 January 1965, graduated from the Gábor Áron High School in his hometown in 1983 and from the Budapest University of Economics and Business Administration in 1989. He worked as an economic auditor at the State Construction Company No. 43 in Budapest, and in 1990 as an economist at the East Hungarian Water Planning Company in Szolnok. Between 1995 and 1997 he was a lecturer at the Szolnok College of Economics, and a titular college teacher.

From 1998 to 2001, he was Political State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, then Minister of Finance until 2002. In 2010, he was appointed State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, and from 2011 he was appointed Minister without Portfolio in charge of relations with certain international financial institutions. From March 2013 to 2018, he was Minister of National Economy, and from 2017 he was appointed President of the National Competitiveness Council. Member of Parliament from 1990, from 1998 to 2014 Member of Parliament for constituency No 8 of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County, and from 2014 to 2022 he represented the citizens of Óbuda, including constituency No 4 of Budapest, in the Parliament.

Mihály Varga, first as a Member of Parliament and then as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, helped Obuda University to operate more efficiently, to raise its quality and to significantly expand its infrastructural possibilities.

From 1 August 2021, Obuda University has been transformed into a public higher education institution maintained by a public foundation: the Rudolf Kalman Foundation for Obuda University has become the founder, owner and maintainer of the institution. Mihály Varga was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees until 15 February 2023. Thanks to his personality and dedication, our academic community has been strengthened by the development of teaching and research conditions, and our university has been able to achieve results in a number of areas that have made us a leading technical higher education institution not only in Hungary but also in the surrounding region.