Elvira Kovács

Elvira Kovács (Елвира Ковач; born 18 July 1982) is a Serbian politician from the country's Hungarian community. She has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2007 as a member of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ).

Early life and career
Kovács was born in Zrenjanin, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She graduated from the faculty of economics at the Subotica campus of the University of Novi Sad in 2006 and worked in the health and social policy secretariat in the executive council of Vojvodina until July 2007.

Politician
Kovács joined the VMSZ in 2000 and was elected to its youth forum presidency in 2006. In 2005, she became a regional trainer for the National Democratic Institute.

Koštunica and Cvetković administrations (2007–12)
Kovács appeared in the 224th position on the VMSZ's electoral list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election. The list won three seats. She was not initially included in her party's delegation but received a mandate on 18 July 2007 as a replacement for Andrea Galgó Ferenci, who had resigned. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Kovács's specific list position had no formal bearing on whether or when she received a mandate.) In her first term, she was a member of the committee for culture and information. The VMSZ served in opposition to Vojislav Koštunica's administration during this time.

For the 2008 parliamentary election, Kovács received the fourth position on the electoral list of the Hungarian Coalition, a multi-party alliance led by the VMSZ. The coalition won four seats, all of which were assigned to VMSZ members, and she was chosen for a second term in the assembly. The For a European Serbia (ZES) alliance formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) after the election, and the VMSZ provided crucial support for the administration in the assembly. Kovács was a member of the labour committee, the committee on development and international economic relations, and the working group on the rights of the child; a deputy member of the committee on agriculture, the committee on petitions and proposals, and the committee for local self-government; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Croatia, Germany, Italy, and Slovakia.

Kovács also led the Hungarian Coalition's electoral list in Zrenjanin for the 2008 Serbian local elections, which were held concurrently with the national assembly vote. The list won two mandates, and she did not take a seat in the city assembly.

Dačić and Vučić administrations (2012–2017)
Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. Kovács received the third position on the VMSZ's list in the 2012 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won five mandates. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the election and afterward formed a new coalition government with the SPS and other parties; the VMSZ declined an offer to join the government and instead served in a mostly nominal opposition role for the next two years. Kovács was a member of the committee on the rights of the child and the committee on human and minority rights and gender equality, a deputy member of the finance committee, and a member of the friendship groups with Germany and Slovakia. She was also briefly a member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), before being succeeded by fellow party member Zoltán Pék.

She again received the third position on the VMSZ list in the 2014 parliamentary election and was elected to a fourth term when the list won six seats. The VMSZ began supporting Serbia's SNS-led government in the assembly after the election. In this parliament, Kovács was deputy chair of the European integration committee, a member of the human rights committee and the committee on the rights of the child, and a deputy member of the labour committee and the health and family committee. She also continued her membership in the friendship groups with Germany and Slovakia.

For the 2016 parliamentary election, Kovács was promoted to second place on the VMSZ list and was re-elected when the party won four seats. As in the previous parliament, she served as deputy chair of the European integration committee and was a member of the committee on human rights, the committee on the rights of the child, and the friendship groups with Germany and Slovakia. She was also deputy chair of the European Union–Serbia stabilization and association committee, a deputy member of the committee on constitutional and legislative issues, a member of the working group for the political empowerment of persons with disabilities, and a member of the working group for national minority rights.

Brnabić administration (2017–present)
The VMSZ led a successful drive to increase its voter turnout in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election and won a record nine seats. Kovács, who once again appeared in the second list position, was elected to a sixth term. On 22 October 2020, she was chosen as a vice-president (i.e., deputy speaker) of the assembly. She was also promoted to chair of the European integration committee, continued in the role of deputy chair of the stabilization and association committee, served on the foreign affairs committee and the committee on the rights of the child, was the leader of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Denmark, and once again served in the friendship groups with Germany and Slovakia.

She again received the second position on the VMSZ list in the 2022 parliamentary election and was elected to a seventh term as the party fell back to five seats. In the 2022–24 term, she was again chosen as a deputy speaker of the assembly, chaired the European integration committee, and was a member of the foreign affairs committee, the committee on the rights of the child, the stabilization and association committee, and the friendship groups with Denmark, Germany, Hungary, and Sweden.

Kovács appeared in the second position on the VMSZ list for a fourth consecutive time in the 2023 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won six seats. Chosen afterward for a third term as deputy speaker, she holds the same committee responsibilities as in the previous parliament and is also a deputy member of the health and family committee.

She was a vice-president of the VMSZ in 2023–24 and remains a member of its presidency.

Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Kovács served as a substitute member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) from October 2007 to October 2012 and again from January 2013 to May 2014. She was promoted to full membership on 23 May 2014 and has continued in this role since that time. She sits with the parliamentary group of the European People's Party and is currently one of its vice-chairs. In May 2017, she affirmed that Serbia was still working toward its strategic goal of membership in the European Union.

Kovács chaired the PACE committee on equality and non-discrimination from 2018 to 2020. She remains a full member of the committee and is also a member of the committee on honouring the obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe. She was named as a vice-president of the PACE assembly on 24 January 2022 and served in this role for a two-year term.