The Hungarian government on Monday announced an investigation into a major investment deal with Chinese auto giant BYD, on suspicion that former Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto might have had a conflict of interest.
Szijjarto left his seat in the Hungarian Parliament to take a job with BYD last week, three years after negotiating the first of two major investment deals with BYD.
Szijjarto was Hungary’s top diplomat for about 12 years under former prime minister Viktor Orban and the two were close political allies. Orban assiduously courted investment from China and Szijjarto was his point man in the effort, becoming an especially ardent admirer of BYD, the Chinese automaker that has become the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles.
In December 2023, Szijjarto announced BYD would open its first European factory in the southern Hungarian city of Szeged. He said the BYD deal, worth some $4.5 billion, was only finalized after 224 rounds of negotiations.
The foreign minister said the deal was “one of the largest investments in Hungarian economic history” and would create thousands of jobs, as well as strengthening “Hungary’s position in the global electric automotive transition.”
China was eager to build a plant in Hungary because the European Union slapped anti-dumping tariffs on the company in 2023. Manufacturing its cars in European factories was the best way for BYD to get around the tariffs.
In May 2025, BYD announced it would open its European corporate headquarters in Budapest, along with a research and development center. Szijjarto attended the signing ceremony for the deal.
Hungary’s deals with BYD were criticized by environmental groups and residents of the Szeged area, who were unhappy that China’s massive construction project would drain the local water supply, risk environmental destruction by manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, and make Hungary dangerously dependent upon China.
Accusations of abusive labor practices – including the use of forced labor from Chinese migrants – were leveled this year against the massive BYD construction project in Szeged by a non-governmental organization (NGO) called China Labor Watch. Two workers have died at the construction site in 2026.
Szijjarto lost his post as foreign minister when Orban was defeated by current prime minister Peter Magyar in April 2026. Szijjarto fell back on the seat in Parliament he has held since 2002, but he rarely appeared for votes and has scarcely been seen in public since Orban’s defeat. He suddenly resigned his seat last week to accept what he called a “highly prestigious offer” of an “international position” from BYD.
“BYD is one of the greatest success stories in the automotive industry over the past 20 years. Starting today, I will continue my work as the executive responsible for the group’s external relations and the development of new business lines,” he said.
Szijjarto’s move was immediately criticized by Magyar and his government, which on Monday began investigating charges that the former foreign minister diverted government subsidies and other special favors to the Chinese company that would one day employ him.
“The only difference from before is that, from now on, Peter Szijjarto will no longer be paid by the Hungarian people for the same ‘work,’ but by his actual employer,” Magyar himself sneered in a social media post.
Magyar has said he is eager to “review” the investment agreements China made with Orban’s government, but he said he does not intend to “shut them down or prevent them from happening.”
On Monday, Magyar told Hungarian lawmakers that Szijjarto helped BYD with “hundreds of billions in public money, diplomatic support, and state infrastructure” when he was foreign minister.
“We will examine all the decisions, negotiations and state commitments made by Peter Szijjarto that were related to the BYD Hungary investment. 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,” he said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, neither Szijjarto nor BYD had responded to the allegations.
Read the full article here