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Associated Press

Hungary’s government announced an investigation on Monday into a large foreign investment by Chinese carmaker BYD negotiated by a former foreign minister who last week resigned from parliament to take an executive position at the company.
Peter Szijjarto’s announcement last Wednesday that he would take the job at the world’s top electric carmaker prompted accusations of a conflict of interest and criticism over his role in organising substantial government subsidies to the company while in office.
Prime Minister Peter Magyar told lawmakers on Monday that Szijjarto, a close ally of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, had helped BYD while he was in office “with hundreds of billions (of forints) in public money, diplomatic support and state infrastructure”.
“We will examine all the decisions, negotiations and state commitments made by Péter Szijjarto that were related to the BYD Hungary investment,” Magyar said on Monday.
He added the investigation would look into all subsidies, tax breaks, permits, environmental exemptions and publicly funded investments given to large multinational firms during Orban’s tenure.
“We will investigate who made these decisions, who prepared them, what professional warnings were ignored, and how much burden they left on Hungarian taxpayers, workers, local communities and the environment,” Magyar said.
Neither Szijjarto nor BYD has responded to Magyar’s allegations of conflict of interest while Szijjarto was in office. The former foreign minister has posed his new job as a “prestigious” opportunity to work for one of the “greatest success stories” in the automotive industry.
While serving in government, Szijjarto was instrumental in securing foreign investments in Hungary from Chinese companies, including his current employer BYD, which received considerable state subsidies during his tenure.


In 2023, Szijjarto announced that BYD would open its first European factory in Hungary – allowing the conglomerate to skirt European Union import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles imposed to protect the continent’s domestic car manufacturing sector.
In 2025, Szijjarto also announced BYD would locate its European headquarters and a research and development centre in Budapest and receive 20 billion forints (US$63.7 million) in government help.
The investments were part of the Orban government’s push to make Hungary a global hub of lithium-ion battery manufacturing, largely through attracting Chinese battery manufacturers who opened a series of plants across the country.
The moves led local residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians to protest over fears the new industry would exacerbate existing environmental problems, hit the country’s precious water supplies and further undermine its economy to China.
While foreign minister, Szijjarto also maintained close relations with Russia despite its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Breaking with nearly all of his EU counterparts, he frequently travelled to Moscow to negotiate agreements on buying Russian oil and gas and to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whom he referred to as his “friend”.
He was embroiled in controversy during Hungary’s 2026 election campaign when The Washington Post reported that he made regular phone calls to Lavrov during high-level EU meetings with “live reports on what’s been discussed”.
Szijjarto has dismissed the report while acknowledging that he conferred with Lavrov before and after EU foreign minister meetings about their agenda and decisions.
During a government news conference last week, Magyar said that “as far as I know”, an investigation had been launched concerning Szijjarto’s connections to the Russian government.


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Peter Szijjarto’s announcement that he would take a job at the world’s top electric carmaker prompted accusations of a conflict of interest


Peter Szijjarto’s announcement that he would take a job at the world’s top electric carmaker prompted accusations of a conflict of interest.


Hungary investigates deal with China’s BYD after ex-foreign minister takes job there

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Peter Szijjarto’s announcement that he would take a job at the world’s top electric carmaker prompted accusations of a conflict of interest

Peter Szijjarto’s announcement that he would take a job at the world’s top electric carmaker prompted accusations of a conflict of interest