served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Gyula Horn from 15 July 1994 to 8 July 1998. From June 1998 to December 2000 he was the leader of the Socialists' parliamentary group and deputy leader from January 2001. He secured a seat on the Budapest Regional List in April 2002. Since 27 May 2002 he had once again been in charge of Hungarian diplomacy as foreign minister until 30 September 2004. EU career His name linked to the 31 March 1998 opening of negotiations on accession to the European Union, as well as to the completion of these negotiations on 13 December 2002. At the beginning of November 2003 the twenty-five members of the Presidential Committee of Socialist International elected him deputy chairman representing the entire Central and East European Region. During the European Parliament elections on 13 June 2004 he headed his party's list. In 2004, Kovács was nominated to serve as the Hungarian member of the European Commission, which was to take office on 1 November 2004. His apparent unsuitability for his proposed role as Energy Commissioner was one of the reasons why the European Parliament refused to endorse the proposed new Commission. However, the Hungarian government did not nominate a new commissioner in his place, therefore in the revised setup of the commission, serving from 22 November 2004, he was finally appointed as Commissioner responsible for Taxation and Customs Union. László Andor became the next Hungarian European Commissioner in the second Barroso Commission. Kovács returned to Hungary and was elected to the National Assembly of Hungary from the party's National List during the 2010 parliamentary election. Personal life He married Mária Éva Tóth in 1968. The couple had a daughter, Dóra (born in 1977). Mária Éva died in 2013. He has a son, László (born in 2011) from another relationship. He remarried in 2015. References External links Official website |- |- |- |- |- + 1939 births Foreign ministers of Hungary Hungarian European Commissioners Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2010–2014) Living people Politicians from Budapest