István Tarlós (born 26 May 1948) is a Hungarian politician who served as the mayor of Óbuda-Békásmegyer from 1990 to 2006 and as mayor of Budapest from 2010 to 2019. Between 2006 and 2010, Tarlós was the chairman of the Fidesz–Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) Fraction-Alliance in the General Assembly of the Municipality of Budapest and served as the political leader of the 2008 Social Referendum.
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Early life
Tarlós was born in Budapest on 26 May 1948. Both his father, Dr. István Tarlós Sr., a lawyer, and his mother, Hilda Dienes, a chief accountant, worked for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Tarlós has described his family as civic-minded and religious.
After his graduation from Árpád High School's Humanities Department, Tarlós worked as an unskilled laborer before he was conscripted into the military in Orosháza. After his military service, Tarlós attended the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, receiving his degree in civil engineering. He went on to complete a graduate program in Finance and Organization from Ybl Miklós Technical College.
Tarlós worked for 15 years in the building industry, mostly in investing and contractor tasks. During his civil engineer career, Tarlós held numerous positions, including foreman, deputy construction leader, construction leader, technical controller, and head of production department.
Tarlós married Cecília Nagy, a civil engineer, in 1973. They have three children and six grandchildren. In the early 1990s, Tarlós launched his own architect studio with his wife.
Political career
Mayor of Óbuda-Békásmegyer
Tarlós first entered politics by becoming a member of the anti-communist Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) in 1989. He then became Budapest District III (Óbuda-Békásmegyer) Mayor in 1990 with the support of the SZDSZ and Fidesz.
Tarlós left SZDSZ in the summer of 1994 because of ideological and moral differences. He claims he could not accept the radical change in directions and principles of the party within the short period of its existence. He has been an independent politician since then. As an independent, he was reelected as Major of Budapest District III with large majorities in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
During his political career, Tarlós was able to establish a functioning coalition between the liberal and socialist fractions within the municipality of his district. The General Assembly regularly passed Tarlós's budget plans and budget reports without abstention or blackball. However, the remains of the first conservative party of the Prime Minister József Antall and the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) considered Tarlós's Budapest mayoral candidacy controversial; which resulted in numerous secessions of party members and leaders as well as demonstrations on the streets of District III and within the town walls.
In 2007, Tarlós entered the local election in 2006 as mayoral candidate of Budapest, and lost by a mere 1 percent against incumbent mayor Gábor Demszky (SZDSZ).
While still identifying as independent but declared conservative politician, Tarlósl ed the Fidesz-KDNP fraction in the General Assembly of Budapest from October 2006 until October 2010. Along with his role as fraction-leader, Tarlós led the "Social Referendum 2008" campaign, initiated by Fidesz and Civil Social Basis.
Mayor of Budapest
In 2010 he was elected with the program of bringing the local government-owned companies under direct local government control and under full oversight of the assembly. He pledged to divert more funds to material and salary expenditures of services (police, firefighters, schools, public transport) the state of which he described as neglected. Instead of always choosing between individual developments while the stability of the city is according to him always pressed to the limit, he wants to drive the macroeconomic curves of the city into a long-term self-sustaining. The Prime Minister guaranteed the city will be provided with the funds necessary for finishing ongoing infrastructure investments.
Until 2013 the mayor's administration completely overhauled the structure of the companies owned by the local government. In the new structure the companies operate more efficiently, which resulted in significant reduction of operating costs. This money can be redirected to development.
In 2013 Viktor Orbán's government started a program to lift Hungary's local governments out of debt. 100% of the debts of settlements whose population is under 5000 was repaid by the government. 60% of the debt of Budapest was repaid by the government. Later the remaining 40% was also repaid by the government, after the government decided to eliminate all debts of all local governments. In this year the national government accepted the request of the local government to finance the BKISZ project from EU funds. This project builds the sewerage system in all parts of the city that did not have this infrastructure yet. Construction works will finish in Summer of 2015. The capacity of the city's wastewater treatment plants by 2009 had already been increased to be able to treat all generated wastewater.
In 2013 István Tarlós's administration drafted the city's next development plan, that applies to the 2014-2030 time period. 27 large projects were initiated to be realised from EU funds until 2020. Among them was the complete reconstruction and extension of Metro Line 3, the extension of several tramlines and the purchase of new trams and buses.
From 1 January 2014 the price of most public transport passes for natural persons was decreased by 10%. This was made possible by the reorganized control activity which reduced illegal travel, increased the number of passes sold and the amount of money flowing in from pass sales. This was the first time since the fall of communism that pass prices became cheaper.
Later career
Weeks after his defeat during the 2019 local elections, István Tarlós was appointed Prime Ministerial Commissioner for the Development of National Transportation and Public Service Infrastructure on 31 October 2019. Officially, he took the position the following day.
Social work
Through the assignment of numerous district mayors, Tarlós became vice-chairman of the Council of Regional Development between 1999 and 2003. He visited the Institutions of the EU in Brussels on diverse occasions. During this period Tarlós lead the Commission for Strategic Planning of the Central-Hungarian Region and co-founded the Hungarian Society of Law-Enforcement-Science, the Baross Gábor Society and became a member of the Széchenyi Society. Additionally Tarlós was given the task of the honorary chairman of the Disaster-Recovery and Civil Protection Council as well as of the Braunhaxler Association of Budapest District III. He is also a member of the board of the Christian Intellectual Alliance.
Awards, prizes
Minor Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2008)
Golden Degree of Szent Gellért Award
Eötvös József Golden Medal
Henszlmann Imre Award
Remembrance Medal for Hungarian Urbanism
Grand Cross of Allegiance for Fatherland
Medal for Civil Organisations
Golden Seal-Ring Award of Mayors
Silver Medal of the Municipality of Székelyudvarhely
Palatinus Medal of the Municipality of Révkomárom
Honored Citizen, Budapest District III (from 2007)
Book
Tarlós by Károly Boros (Magyar Ház Kiadó, Budapest, 2007)