Szijjarto leaves parliament to join Chinese BYD

Hungary's former foreign minister resigned from his parliamentary seat yesterday to take a position at Chinese carmaker BYD, drawing criticism for his role in providing significant state subsidies to the company while in office.

Peter Szijjarto, as the Associated Press agency reminds us, was Hungary's foreign minister for nearly 12 years in the government of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He was removed from office after the pro-European Tisa party of Peter Magyars won a landslide victory in the April elections, but he remained an MP.

A Hungarian accused him on social media of representing "foreign interests."

The former MP wrote on Facebook that he had received a "very prestigious offer" for an "international position" from the world's largest electric car manufacturer.

“BYD is one of the greatest success stories in the automotive industry in the past 20 years,” Szijjarto wrote. “From today, I will continue to work as the director in charge of the group’s external relations and the development of new business areas.”

Szijjarto, who has been an MP since 2002, has missed most parliamentary votes since the April elections, rarely appearing in public and posting almost nothing on social media.

While in government, Szijjártó played a key role in attracting Chinese investment to Hungary, including from BYD, his current employer, which received significant state subsidies during his tenure, the AP writes.

In 2023, Szijjártó announced that BYD would open its first European factory in Hungary, allowing the conglomerate to bypass European Union tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, which were imposed to protect the domestic auto industry in Europe. In 2025, he also announced that BYD would locate its European headquarters and research and development center in Budapest, with state aid of 20 billion forints, or $63,7 million.

While in office, Szijjártó, along with Orbán, opposed EU tariffs on Chinese products, advocated for large-scale investment from Beijing and supported the opening of a series of Chinese battery factories for electric vehicles across the country. Orbán's government and Beijing have also jointly developed a railway corridor between Hungary and Serbia, which is part of China's global trade initiative "Belt and Road", the AP reminds.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar wrote on social media yesterday that Szijjártó "has long represented foreign interests" and recalled that he "previously lobbied to ensure that BYD received huge subsidies from the Hungarian state budget."

"Perhaps now, in retrospect, it will become clear even to Fidesz voters whose interests the former foreign minister of the failed Orbán government represented when it came to investments in the battery industry and the automotive industry," the Hungarian wrote.