Flórián Farkas

Flórián Farkas (born 4 September 1957) is a Hungarian Romani politician from the Lungo Drom party. He served as president of the National Roma Self-Government from 1995 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2014, as well as a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2022.

Early life and career Farkas was born on 4 September 1957 in Tiszroff. Farkas learned politology at the faculty of the Law at the Eötvös Loránd University between 2001 and 2005. He acquired a university degree in political science there in 2005 and since then he has been a part-time teacher in the university. That's also proven, Farkas was passing the 8-year-long elementary school over 15 years, and he probably finished the 8th class in prison, when he was twenty years old.

Political career He has taken an active part in Roma public life since 1983. He worked as a social worker for Roma families for the local council of Szolnok and was a member of the Roma Coordination Committee of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County from 1985. He became secretary of the National Gypsy Council (OCÖ) in 1987, and secretary general, then president of Lungo Drom Roma Advocacy Alliance.

Member of Parliament He secured a seat in the Parliament in the 2002 general elections as a candidate on the Fidesz national list. The Lungo Drom won the Hungarian minority elections of 2011, as a result he was elected president of the National Gypsy Council for the second term, following Orbán Kolompár. In February 2011, the OCÖ adopted a new statute and renamed to National Roma Council (ORÖ). Farkas was re-elected MP via the national list of Fidesz in the 2014 parliamentary election. He worked in the Committee on European Affairs from May 2014 to September 2016.

Under his leadership, the National Roma Council established an employment cooperative called Bridge to the World of Work ("") in March 2014; Farkas became head of the project. In the following years, the cooperative received about five billion HUF in European Union funding to help the unemployed of Roma origin find employment. However it was revealed in February 2015 that the leaders of the project bought expensive cars and spent HUF 1.6 billion on luxury items, including office building, IT equipment and overpriced impact studies. Opposition politician Ákos Hadházy filed a complaint alleging budget fraud. The National Bureau of Investigation, the General Prosecutor's Office and the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) launched an investigation in May 2015. In practice, the project became the paying point for Farkas and his allies from public funds. Due to the scandal, Farkas lost majority support within the ORÖ by the autumn of 2015, his relationship with his successor István Hegedüs had deteriorated too. Farkas then tried to get a majority through bribes against Hegedüs and his supporters. Farkas was replaced as head of the Bridge to the World of Work project in January 2016. He was succeeded by fellow Fidesz politician of Romani ancestry, László Berényi. On 8 March 2016, the Ministry of Human Resources withdrew from the contract with the National Roma Council on the project due to suspicions of irregularities in the use of financial resources and reclaimed the money from the Roma municipality. Beside the Hungarian agencies, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) also launched an investigation in June 2016.

Due to the scandal, Farkas lost all of his political influence but remained a member of the National Assembly. He was expelled from the Committee on European Affairs in September 2016. He has never made a statement to the press or speak in plenary since the scandal erupted. Farkas was re-elected president of Lungo Drom in June 2017. According to László Vajda, president of Lungo Drom in Zala County, only those delegates who supported Farkas brought the vote. Vajda, who was also not invited to the delegates' meeting, said that the delegates' decision would be challenged in court. Vajda said individuals who had never been members of the Lungo Drom also took part in the vote.

Despite the corruption case, the ruling party Fidesz selected Farkas to its national list for the 2018 parliamentary election, through which he gained a mandate. He was involved in the Legislative Committee from May 2018 to May 2022. In May 2021, the Prosecutor's Office responded to the HVG request in the same way that it had previously asked Ákos Hadházy, an independent MP, that "five people had already been questioned", with no indication of a different outcome. Farkas remained inactive in the 2018–2022 parliamentary term too. A leaked audio recording revealed in January 2022 that Attila Sztojka, the Government Commissioner for Roma Affairs stated that Farkas "cannot be rebuilt" because of the "plethora" of scandals around him. He said Farkas has expired himself not only among the Gypsies, but, worst of all, among his party [Lungo Drom] members. Thereafter, Farkas did not run in the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election, his name was omitted from the national list of Fidesz.

Personal life He is married. His wife is Sarolta Flóriánné Farkas Ámit. They have three children.