István Ujhelyi

Dr. István Ujhelyi (born 28 February 1975) is a Hungarian politician from the Hungarian Socialist Party, who was MP in the National Assembly of Hungary between 2002 and 2014. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 to 2024.

Life Ujhelyi finished Tóth Árpád Grammar School in Debrecen in 1993. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Szeged in 2002. He went on a political study tour to London as a scholarship-holder of the Council of Europe and to Washington, D.C., on an American scholarship. He was delegated by the youth organizations to the board of trustees of the Hungarian Television Public Foundation and later of the Hungarian Radio Public Foundation. Also in 1999, he was elected a member of the governing body of the Hungarian UN Society. He has since been serving as vice chairman of the Committee on Transport and Tourism under the leadership of chairman Michael Cramer and later Karima Delli.

In addition to his committee assignment, Ujhelyi is a substitute member of the parliament's delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and Subcommittee on Public Health. He is also a member of the European Internet Forum.

Following the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election, In April 2022, Ujhelyi showed interest in running for MSZP leadership and he proposed a new name "Opportunity – Party Community of Hungarian Social Democrats" . On 2 October 2022, Ujhelyi announced that he is leaving the Hungarian Socialist Party, criticizing "MSZP's lack of vision". The party demanded he return his parliamentary seat. Shortly before he left the party, Ujhelyi founded Esély Közösség, a community for social democrats, which transformed itself into a party after Ujhelyi's quit from MSZP.

In September 2022, Ujhelyi was the recipient of the Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.

In June 2023, Ujhelyi announced he would end his career as an MEP and not run in the 2024 Parliament election. Ujhelyi was appointed ambassador of the UN Tourism in Brussels in June 2024.