Csaba Zalai is a Professor of Practice at the Department of European Studies and Head of the International Organisations Research Group at Ludovika University of Public Service (LUPS) in Budapest. He is an economist and a diplomat. He graduated from the Corvinus University in Budapest in 1998; during this time, he also participated in scholarship programmes at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands and the Paul Cézanne University in France. Between 1999 and 2007, he held various offices (desk officer, later Head of Unit, Deputy Head of Department and Head of Department) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 2007 and 2012, he served as Antici diplomat at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU in Brussels, including during the first Hungarian EU Presidency in 2011. Between 2013 and 2015, he was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, after which he served as Ambassador and EU Senior Expert seconded to the Government of the Republic of Macedonia in Skopje for three years. Between 2018-2022 he was the deputy of the Chief EU advisor (sherpa) of the Prime Minister in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office. Between 2022 and 2024 he served as Deputy State Secretary for EU policy (European Director) first in the Ministry of Justice and later in the Ministry of European Union Affairs responsible for chairing the Intergovernmental Committee for EU Coordination while he was also responsible for the preparation of the Hungarian EU Presidency in the second half of 2024, in particular for the overall governmental coordination of its preparation and implementation. In 2011, he was awarded the Hungarian Golden Cross of Merit. His research interests cover EU-Hungary relations in general while focusing in particular on policy issues related to EU enlargement and the Western Balkans, European economic governance, in particular, the EU budget.
What can be expected in the field of EU enlargement under the new European Commission: opportunities, challenges and Hungarian interests
Időpont
2025.05.09. 16:00
Helyszín
Tent 1
