Early life He was an
athlete when he was ten years old, he was member of the national youth team. He finished high-school studies in
Cegléd. He could have got into the university without admission one, because he was honored on the
OKTV educational competition. However the
Eötvös Loránd University did not admit him. According to the institution Békesi's material conditions were not provided for his learning, because his father died early. However the real reason was that he derived from a religious family. Békesi became a breadwinner, he worked for parish councils of
Albertirsa and
Dánszentmiklós. Later he was put it on for the
College of Finance and Accountancy's evening course later. His teacher was
Lajos Faluvégi, who later became Minister of Finance and dealt with the economical reform. From 1967 he worked as a chief
accountant for the Council of
Pest County in
Budapest. He joined to the
MSZMP in 1968 and he was appointed head of the financial department and later general deputy chairman of the Council of Pest County. He became economical vice president of the Capital Council of Budapest in 1975 and member of the Committee of Planning Board. Békesi graduated at the
Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences. His speciality is the councils' farming from the collegiate years, later this was supplemented by the public finance and the questions of the fiscal systems.
First ministerial term His political and vocational career rose in parallel. He was appointed titular university professor in 1981, during that time also served as economic-political secretary of the party's Committee of Budapest. Until 1985 he was member of the Central Committee's economic panel. In 1984 he was also member of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, which decided about the boycott of the
1984 Summer Olympics (
Los Angeles) at this time. The committee voted for the boycotting beside three abstentions and one "not" vote. Békesi was one of the three who abstained, and lost his secretary position in 1985 in a party disciplinary action. However
István Hetényi supported him and made him his substitute. László Békesi was the Communist regime's last Minister of Finance between 10 May 1989 and 23 May 1990. ==References==