Hungary Connects

March 9-10, 2023

ORBÁN, Balázs

Political Director of the Prime Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office of Hungary 

Balázs András Orbán is a Hungarian lawyer, political scientist, and Member of Parliament, who has been serving as Political Director of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán since 2021. He is the Chairman of the Board of Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), Hungary’s leading extracurricular educational institution, and chairs the Advisory Board of the National University of Public Service (NKE).

In 2004 Orbán graduated summa cum laude in Law, obtaining a BA degree in Political Science in 2011. He entered the Doctoral School of ELTE in 2009, receiving his absolutorium in 2012. In 2014 he received an LL.M. degree in legal regulation in public administration at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Science. He speaks Hungarian, English, and German.

In 2012, he joined the Századvég Foundation, a conservative think tank, as a regulatory expert. He became the foundation’s research director in 2013, managing and coordinating public law and public policy research until 2018. Between 2016 and 2018, he was a Member of the Board of the Századvég Foundation. In 2015 he became the director of the Migration Research Institute. In 2016 he started teaching at the National University of Public Service (NKE), and has also been teaching at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) since 2015.

Between 2018-2022 Orbán served as Deputy Minister, Parliamentary and Strategic State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. Since 2018 he became the chair of the Advisory Board of the National Public Service University (NKE), also being responsible for the development and modernization of the university.

Since 2021 August Orbán has been serving as Political Director to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. As his chief advisor, he supports strategic decision-making and coordinates the work of the Prime Minister’s advisors. In 2022 he became Member of the Hungarian Parliament.

His articles and analyses are frequently published in various online and printed newspapers, journals. He authored several books, including The Character of the Hungarian State published in Hungarian and German; Hungary 2020; and The Hungarian Way of Strategy, published in Hungarian, English, and Polish languages. Orbán lives in Budapest with his wife and two sons.