Antal Rogán has served as the Orbán government’s minister in charge of the Prime Ministerial Cabinet Office  since October 19, 2015.

Rogán was the chairman of the Fidesz National Assembly caucus from June 2, 2012 until September 30, 2015. He has been a National Assembly representative since 1998. 

Rogán also served as the mayor of the fifth district of Budapest—the city’s central political, administrative, commercial and tourist district—from 2006 to 2014, resigning in the latter year due to amended conflict-of-interest laws.

Biography 

Grew up in the village of Szakonyfalu (population 350) along Hungary’s border with Austria. He, along with one-third of the village’s inhabitants, is of Slovenian descent. Graduated from high school the nearby town of Szentgotthárd (population 8,900) in 1990.

Earned a B.A. in finance at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences in 1995. Began working at the National Bank of Hungary after graduating from university.  

Has been a Fidesz National Assembly representative since 1998.   

Notable Quotes 

“I always saw one tangible point of contention between the IMF delegation and the Hungarian government: the bank tax. According to the IMF, the bank tax is unnecessary, while we believe that it is not possible to manage the government debt without the bank tax.” December 1, 2012 interview in the newspaper Népszabadság (source in Hungarian).

“The Fidesz caucus holds banks responsible for the propagation of foreign-currency loans and the situation that has emerged surrounding them. We think that it is a defective product. They misled people at the time they introduced them, because they did not reveal the true risks, while they wrote the contracts in such a way as to transfer all risks connected to exchange-rate fluctuations and all burdens on the debtors, that is, on the family taking out the loan.” September 5, 2013, during announcement of Fidesz’s November 1 deadline for banks to modify foreign-currency-denominated loan contracts to the benefit of borrowers (source in Hungarian).

“The influx of economic refugees is not warranted in Hungary. That Hungary wants to remain Hungarian is a totally normal notion.” January 12, 2015, speaking on Hungarian Television (source in Hungarian).

“The admission of economic refugees who bring with them customs that are foreign to Hungarian traditions is not in the interest of Hungary either.” January 12, 2015, speaking on Hungarian Television (source in Hungarian). 

“Foolishness. Viktor Orbán was our candidate for prime minister, people elected him and he will finish the cycle.” January 19, 2015, speaking to the pro-government newspaper Magyar Hírlap regarding speculation that Prime Minister Orbán would become head of state after the expiration of President János Ader’s mandate in 2017 (source in Hungarian). 

“We don’t believe in equality because everything that is of value must be destroyed and everybody who creates value taken away in order to achieve it.” February 25, 2015, speaking at the Gulag memorial in Budapest on Hungary’s Victims of Communism Commemoration Day (source in Hungarian). 

“We must all ask the question: would we like our grandchildren to live in the European United Caliphates?” September 1, 2015, during interview with the pro-government newspaper Magyar Idők (source in Hungarian).

Last updated: May 7, 2018.