Péter BALÁZS graduated and got his PhD at the Budapest School of Economics. He is Doctor (DSc) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Professor Emeritus at Central European University (CEU), Budapest. He founded at CEU the Center of EU Enlargement Studies (CENS) and was its director from 2005 to 2020.
He served in various governments of Hungary as a State Secretary for Industry and Trade (1992-1993), State Secretary for European Affairs (2002-2003) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009-2010). He was Ambassador to Denmark (1994-1996), Germany (1997-2000) and Permanent Representative to the EU (2003-2004). When Hungary joined the EU, he became the first European Commissioner in charge of regional policy (2004). From 2005 on he has been European Coordinator of TEN-T Projects assisting the European Commission.