Zsolt Simon (born 26 August 1970) is a Slovak politician. He served as the Minister of Agriculture from 2002 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2012. From 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2020 he was a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the National Council.

Early life

Simon was born in

Rimavská Sobota Rimavská Sobota (; , ) is a town in southern Slovakia, in the Banská Bystrica Region, on the Rimava river. It has approximately 24,000 inhabitants. The town is a historical capital of Gömör és Kishont County (from 1850 to 1922). Geography ...

. He is of Hungarian nationality. He studied agriculture at the

Mendel University Mendel University in Brno () is located in Brno, Czech Republic. It was founded on 24 July 1919 on the basis of the former Tábor Academy. It now consists of five faculties and one institute - the Faculty of AgriSciences, Faculty of Forestry an ...

, graduating in 1993. Following graduation, he ran a farm and worked as a manager in Agriculture. In 1999, he joined the

Party of the Hungarian Coalition The Hungarian Alliance (; , Szövetség–Aliancia) is a political party in Slovakia for the ethnic Hungarian minority, previously known simply as the "Alliance", it was founded when "Party of the Hungarian Community" and Most–Híd merged i ...

Political career

Following the

2002 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 20 and 21 September 2002.Dieter Nohlen, Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1747 The People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, Movement for a Democ ...

, Simon won a mandate, which he did not take due to becoming a Minister of Agriculture in the

Dzurinda's Second Cabinet Between 16 October 2002 and 4 July 2006, prime minister of Slovakia Mikuláš Dzurinda Mikuláš Dzurinda (; born 4 February 1955) is a Slovak politician who was the prime minister of Slovakia from 30 October 1998 to 4 July 2006. Dzurinda is t ...

. He was elected a Deputy again in the

2006 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 17 June 2006. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1747 Direction – Social Democracy emerged as the largest party in the National Council, winning 50 of the ...

. While serving as an opposition MP, he left the Party of the Hungarian Coalition to co-found the

Most–Híd Most–Híd 2023 (; ; from the Slovak and Hungarian words for "bridge") is an inter-ethnic political party in Slovakia. Its programme calls for greater cooperation between the country's Hungarian minority and ethnic Slovak majority. It was o ...

party. He was again elected in the

2010 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 12 June 2010. The elections were contested by eighteen parties, six of which passed the 5% threshold for sitting in parliament. Despite the incumbent Smer of Prime Minister Robert Fico winning a ...

, following which he again served as an Agriculture minister in the

Radičová's Cabinet Prime Minister of Slovakia Iveta Radičová formed a government between 8 July 2010 and 4 April 2012, being the first woman to hold this office. The government was formed as a coalition of four parties: Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – D ...

. From 2012 to 2020 he was an opposition MP. Following the

2016 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 5 March 2016 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The ruling left-wing populist Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party remained the strongest party, but lost its majority. The ...

, he left the Most-Híd party due to his opposition to a coalition agreement with

Direction – Slovak Social Democracy Direction may refer to: *Body relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction *Bearing (navigation) Mathemat ...

. In 2019 he established a new party Hungarian Forum, which failed to pass the representation threshold in the

2020 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council. The populist Ordinary People and Independent Personalities–NOVA–Christian Union–Change from Below (OĽaNO–NOVA–KÚ� ...

Personal life

Simon is married and has two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Zsolt 1970 births Living people Most–Híd politicians Party of the Hungarian Community politicians Agriculture ministers of Slovakia People from Rimavská Sobota Hungarians in Slovakia Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012–2016 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Mendel University in Brno alumni