Ákos Birtalan was a Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n economist and politician. A member of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania

Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, is the main political organisation representing the ethnic Hungarians of Romania....

 (UDMR), he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Romania

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...

 in the legislative elections of 1992, and reelected in 1996 and 2000

Romanian legislative election, 2000

Legislative elections where be held in Romania on November 26, 2000, together with the Presidential election. The Greater Romania Party made big gains, as did the PDSR, which became the ruling party. The formerly governing Romanian Democratic Convention lost all its seats and was shortly...

 (representing Covasna County

Covasna County

Covasna is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, with the capital city at Sfântu Gheorghe.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 222,449 and the population density was 60/km².*Hungarians – 73.79% *Romanians – 23.28%...

). In 1996-1998, Birtalan was Minister of Tourism in Victor Ciorbea

Victor Ciorbea

Victor Ciorbea is a Romanian politician. He was the Mayor of Bucharest in 1996-1997 and, after his resignation from office, Prime Minister of Romania from 12 December 1996 to 30 March 1998.-Biography:...

's cabinet (formed around the Romanian Democratic Convention

Romanian Democratic Convention

The Romanian Democratic Convention was an electoral alliance of several political parties of Romania, active from early 1992 until 2000....

, CDR).

Born in Veţca

Vetca

Veţca is a commune in Mureş County, Romania that is composed of three villages:*Jacodu / Magyarzsákod*Sălaşuri / Székelyszállás*Veţca- History :...

, Mureş County

Mures County

Mureș is a county of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș.-Geography:The county has a total area of 6,714 km²....

, he is a member of the Hungarian community. Birtalan graduated from the Babeș-Bolyai University

Babes-Bolyai University

The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...

's Faculty of Economic Sciences (1985), and took a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

. He has authored several scientific works in both Romanian

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 and Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

, and is a member of the Association of Hungarian Economists in Romania, while serving as head of the Economic Budget-Finance Commission for the UDMR's Council of Union Representatives.

Inside the Chamber, Ákos Birtalan has served on the Committee for Economic Policy, Reform and Privatization (1992–1996), the Committee for Public Administration, Territorial Development and Environmental Balance (1996–2000), the Committee on Budget, Finance and Banks (2004, initially serving as its Secretary), and the Committee for Industries and Services (2004). He became a member of government in December 1996, following an agreement between Ciorbea and the UDMR's President Béla Markó

Béla Markó

Béla Markó is a Romanian politician and writer of Hungarian ethnicity. The former leader of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania , he is also the Deputy Premier in the Emil Boc government ; he had also been Minister of State in the Tăriceanu cabinet between 2004 and 2007, in charge of...

 — when the CDR increased its support by appointing two cabinet members of the UDMR: Birtalan and the Minister-Delegate for National Minorities

Minorities of Romania

Officially, 10.5% of Romania's population is represented by minorities . The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians and Roma people, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Poles in Bucovina...

, György Tokay.

Birtalan was married and had two children.