Miklós Németh

Miklós Németh (born January 14, 1948, in Monok, Hungary) served as Prime Minister of Hungary from November 24, 1988 to May 23, 1990. He was one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers' Party, Hungary's Communist party, in the tumultuous years that led to the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe. He was the last Communist Prime Minister of Hungary.

As Prime Minister, Németh took the controversial decision to allow East Germans, long held captive by their country's communist regime, to pass through Hungary en route to freedom in West Germany. This decision is widely credited with helping to bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. He became Hungary`s first post-Communist Prime Minister when on 7 October 1989 the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party transformed itself into the Hungarian Socialist Party, a left of centre social democratic party - of which Németh was a founding member. Following the passing of constitutional amendments by parliament on 23 October 1989 he served as the first (provisional) Prime Minister of the Third Hungarian Republic - and as such the new leader of Hungary.

He left office on 23 May 1990, after suffering defeat by József Antall in Hungary's first free elections following the fall of Communism. Németh subsequently served as Vice President of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the financial institution established by the international community to assist the countries of eastern and central Europe and the former Soviet Union in their transition to democratic market economies. He left the EBRD in 2000 to return to Hungary. He attempted to become the PM-designate of the opposition socialist party, but was unsuccessful, as Péter Medgyessy was appointed to that role. Medgyessy later became Prime Minister.