Former Hungarian FM Szijjártó resigns seat in Parliament

“I have resigned my seat in parliament. The reason for this is that I received a highly prestigious offer from one of the world’s leading companies to fill an international position,” Péter Szijjártó posted on Facebook. The former foreign minister will be working as BYD's head of external relations and the development of new business divisions.

Péter Szijjártó was elected to the Hungarian Parliament in 2002; from 2010, he served as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s personal spokesman; from 2012, he became State Secretary for Foreign and Economic Affairs; and from 2014 to 2026, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He did not run individually in the 2026 election but won a seat on the national list. However, the former foreign minister did not attend Parliament very often; in the current term, his attendance rate was the second lowest after János Lázár's.

During his time as minister, Péter Szijjártó was a big supporter of Chinese electric cars. When the European Union was planning to impose tariffs on them, he said: “Hungary is a good example of the considerable economic benefits that a civilised cooperation between the East and West can bring. I believe that if we want to improve the European Union’s dramatically declining competitiveness, we cannot do so by viewing China as a rival and instead of building Sino-European cooperation, creating a sort of European-Chinese confrontation.”

It was revealed after this year’s elections that in 2025 alone, the foreign ministry spent more than two billion forints (5.5 million euros) on Szijjártó's flights, and according to the ministry’s summary, a private jet was chartered for him on 19 occasions for his official trips last year.

Ten days after the fall of the Orbán government, Péter Szijjártó gave a live interview to Telex. During the three-hour interview, he spoke about his ties to Russia, the deterioration of Hungary's relationship with the EU, Fidesz's scare-mongering about war, the recovery of national assets, and the future of Fidesz. At the time, Szijjártó said that in his view, Fidesz’s future was inconceivable without Viktor Orbán, and he would not consider it a good thing if Orbán were to step down from leading the party. He thanked God that Orbán had not named him as a potential prime minister, because he had never harbored such ambitions. Nor does he see himself as the leader of Fidesz. He said that Fidesz must change, but he doesn't see the party going on without its current front-line politicians.

He spoke with Orbán twice

Viktor Orbán was aware that Péter Szijjártó would resign his parliamentary seat; they had spoken about it on two occasions. Bertalan Havasi, Fidesz’s press chief told Telex that he looks back on his work with the former foreign minister—who will soon be joining BYD—with “camaraderie and friendship.”

“The chairman of the party was, of course, aware of the decision; he has met personally with Péter Szijjártó twice in recent weeks,”

Havasi wrote.

“We will address the latest developments in the Fidesz parliamentary group at next Tuesday’s meeting of the party’s executive committee, followed by a joint meeting of the executive committee and the parliamentary group,” he said, when asked when Fidesz would decide on filling the vacant seat in parliament. This means that for now it is not known who will be replacing Szijjártó in Parliament.

This article has been updated.