1952–
The Reformed pastor whose attempted eviction in Timișoara sparked the Romanian Revolution
The crowd forgot the initial reason for their resistance, and in general terms they opposed the regime itself.
A Hungarian Reformed pastor from Cluj, he openly criticised Ceaușescu's systematisation programme (the planned destruction of rural villages) and denounced human rights abuses in a secretly recorded interview with Hungarian television, making himself a target of the Securitate. On 16 December 1989, when parishioners gathered at his Timișoara parsonage to block his forced eviction, the protest swelled into an anti-regime uprising that became the direct trigger of the Romanian Revolution. After the revolution he was elected bishop of the Reformed Diocese of Királyhágómellék in Oradea, dedicated himself to rebuilding the church and Hungarian-language education, and served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2019.
Activities and affiliations
- 2007–2019 Political and party leadership
- Religion
Career Timeline
- 1975Graduated Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj; ordained Reformed pastor
- 1981–1982Contributed to underground journal Ellenpontok; first Securitate harassment
- 1986Appointed assistant pastor of the Reformed Church in Timișoara
- 1988–1989Openly criticised systematisation; secret TV interview made him a Securitate target
- 1989.12.16Protest against his eviction swelled into the Romanian Revolution
- 1990Elected bishop of the Reformed Diocese of Királyhágómellék in Oradea
- 2007–2019Member of the European Parliament (Vice-President 2010–2012)
Related historical events
Post-1989 minority politics and the autonomy movement
After the December 1989 uprising, Tőkés worked in two arenas: the church and minority politics. In 1990 he was elected bishop of the Reformed Diocese of Királyhágómellék in Oradea, a post he held until 2009 and to which he was re-elected in 2004 for a third six-year term. In the same year he became co-chair of the synod of the Reformed Church in Romania. Politically, he was elected honorary president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), formed after the revolution, and held that office from 1990 to 2003. He soon fell out with the alliance's mainstream leadership: in 1996 he protested against the RMDSZ joining a government coalition, and before the 2000 parliamentary elections he publicly urged Hungarian voters not to vote for the RMDSZ. He also resigned from the Council of the National Salvation Front, partly in the wake of the March 1990 ethnic clashes in Târgu Mureș. When the RMDSZ congress in Satu Mare decided in 2003 to abolish the honorary presidency, Tőkés built a separate organisation. The Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (EMNT), founded that year, set the attainment of various forms of autonomy for Transylvanian Hungarians as its goal, and he served as its president from its founding. This course contributed to a split in Hungarian political representation: in 2010 he raised the idea of a new party, and in February 2012 the Hungarian People's Party of Transylvania (EMNP) held its first delegate assembly. He also chaired the Hungarian Autonomy Council of the Carpathian Basin (KMAT). Alongside this he pursued institution-building through civic bodies. The Christian University of Partium, which opened in 1999, was the first Hungarian-language private university in Romania; he served as its president and from 2000 as chairman of the Pro Universitate Partium Foundation (PUPA) that maintains it. While an MEP, he co-sponsored the European Parliament's 2009 resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism.