Mihály Balla (born 21 May 1965) is a Hungarian politician,

member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

(MP) for Balassagyarmat,

Nógrád County Nógrád ( hu, Nógrád megye, ; sk, Novohradská župa) is a county ( hu, megye) of Hungary. It sits on the northern edge of Hungary and borders Slovakia. Description Nógrád county lies in northern Hungary. It shares borders with Slovakia an ...

(Constituency IV then II) since 1998. He is one of the deputy leaders of the

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

parliamentary group since 8 June 2010. He served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2014.

Career

Balla graduated as a teacher of Hungarian and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

from Bessenyei György Teacher Training College in 1987. He took his advanced degree in Hungarian language and literature from

University of Miskolc The University of Miskolc (before 1990: ''Technical University of Heavy Industry'') is the largest university of Northern Hungary. Location Most of the buildings can be found in Egyetemváros ("University Town"), a part of the city of Miskolc. I ...

in 1998. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Development of Balassagyarmat since 1998. He joined to the

in 1997 and has been Vice President of the Nógrád County Board since 1998. He secured a seat in Parliament in the 1998 parliamentary elections as an individual candidate (representing Constituency IV, Balassagyarmat, Nógrád County). When Fidesz developed its organisational structure in the course of 2003 and 2004 he was appointed to the post of chairman of the Balassagyarmat Constituency. He led the Hungarian parliamentary group delegated to the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...

(OSCE) and the Hungarian parliamentary delegation to

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

from 1998 to 2002. As deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee he headed the foreign and security policy cabinet of the parliamentary group of Fidesz from 1999. He had been deputy parliamentary faction leader for Fidesz from 28 April 2000 to 2002. As an individual candidate he secured incumbency as the MP for his Balassagyarmat Constituency in the second round of the parliamentary elections in April 2002. Once Parliament was established he was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee for a brief period, then worked as a member, and had been deputy chairman since June 2003. He ran in the local elections in October 2002 and secured a seat in the Nógrád County Assembly as well as in the body of representatives of Érsekvadkert. He was a delegate to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from the autumn of 2002 to the summer of 2004. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Hungarian delegation to the

Interparliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; othe ...

from 2008 to 2014. He was elected head of the delegation on 10 June 2014. He could repeat his success in 2006 2010,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

as Member of Parliament for Balassagyarmat. Balla was appointed Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs on May 14, 2010, holding the position until June 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balla, Mihaly 1965 births Living people Fidesz politicians Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2006–2010) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2010–2014) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2014–2018) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2018–2022) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2022–2026) People from Nyíregyháza