József Szájer (born 7 September 1961) is a retired Hungarian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) of the

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...

party. He resigned as MEP on 29 November 2020 (effective at the end of December) after having been caught by Belgian

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after a

gay sex Sexual activities involving men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless of their sexual orientation, can include anal sex, non-penetrative sex, and oral sex. Evidence shows that sex between men is significantly underreported in surveys. Beha ...

orgy An orgy is a sex party where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swinger parties the sexual partners may all know each other o ...

on the night of 27 November, in violation of local

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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Early life and education

József Szájer was born in

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

on 7 September 1961, the eldest son of schoolmaster József Szájer, Sr. and primary school teacher Edit Kiss. His parents died of

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

on 26 November 1982. As a result, Szájer became the guardian of his younger brothers at the age of 21. He finished his elementary and secondary studies at his birthplace. Szájer studied at Bibó István College and graduated as legal expert from

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in ...

(ELTE) in Budapest in 1986. He then worked for a decade as lecturer at ELTE's department of Roman Law. Receiving a scholarship from the

Soros Foundation Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the st ...

, he also attended

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, from 1986 to 1987 and undertook research at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

from 1988 to 1989. He passed the

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in 1996, after which he practised as a lawyer. Szájer served as the first president of the Oxford Hungarian Society (OHS) from 1987.

Political career

Within Hungary

In 1988, Szájer was a founding member of the

party, and took part in the Hungarian Round Table Talks from 1989 to 1990. In 1990, he was elected member of the Hungarian Parliament – a seat he maintained until he became an MEP in 2004. From 1994 to 2002, he headed the Fidesz parliamentary group and, from 1998 to 2002, he chaired the Parliament's European integration committee. He served as vice-president of Fidesz from 1996 until 2003 and, from 2000 to 2012, he was member of the Board of

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

. In 2007, he became a founding member of Magyar Szabadság Kör (Hungarian Liberty Club). While serving as MEP, in 2010 Szájer was appointed to chair the drafting committee of the new Hungarian Constitution and led the national consultative committee. The draft was written by Szájer on his

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

. The committee recommended several notable changes to the constitution, including a proposal to allow parents to vote in elections on behalf of their under-age children, and an article banning

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

. The new constitution also emphasised the definition of marriage as being between man and woman, in an apparent repudiation of calls for the recognition of same-sex marriage.

European Parliament

In 2003, Szájer joined the

Convention on the Future of Europe The Convention on the Future of the European Union, also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led ...

and was an observer member of the European Parliament, ahead of Hungary's EU accession. In 2004, Szájer was first elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

and appointed among the vice-chairmen of the Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats. From 2004 to 2007, Szájer served as a member of the

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * Coordination at Community level of na ...

, then as a member of the

Committee on Constitutional Affairs The Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) is a committee of the European Parliament dealing with institutional matters such as revisions to the Treaties of the European Union, inter-institutional agreements, and the Parliament's internal rules ...

(2007–2014). In 2008, Szájer was a signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism. In 2009, having been re-elected, he was appointed head of the Hungarian EPP delegation (until 2011) and chief whip and vice-chairman of the

European People's Party group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

(until 2020). From 2014 until his resignation in 2020, he was an active member of the

Committee on Legal Affairs The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities The main responsibilities of the committee are the interpretation and application of international and European law and the compliance of European U ...

. In 2019, he received the Petőfi Prize. Szájer was a substitute for the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Gay sex party and resignation

Szájer resigned as MEP on 29 November 2020, effective at the end of December, after Belgian police caught him fleeing a private 25-man

above a

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

, hosted by David Manzheley, on the night of 27 November, in violation of local

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

regulations. Szájer was not an invited guest at the party and was accompanied by a friend. The party was interrupted after neighbors called the police to complain about the noise. All attendees at the party were fined €250. According to a statement by the

federal prosecutor An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

's office, Szájer was seen fleeing via a window and a drainpipe. His hands were bloody, and an ecstasy pill was found in his backpack, though he denied the drug was his. He was unable to produce any identity documents on the spot, so police escorted him to his home, where he produced a

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. Prior to the scandal, there were already rumors that he was gay, which had been publicly asserted in 2015 by former Fidesz politician Klára Ungár. Szájer resigned from Fidesz on 2 December 2020. Prime Minister and party leader

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...

told ''

Magyar Nemzet ''Magyar Nemzet'' ('', '') is a major Hungarian newspaper published in Hungary, and styled itself as "close to the current Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán" as of 2019. History and profile ''Magyar Nemzet'', a moderate conservative d ...

'': "what our fellow member József Szájer has done does not fit into the values of our political community. We will not forget and refuse his thirty years of work, but his actions are unacceptable and indefensible". Fellow MEPs, including

Márton Gyöngyösi Márton Gyöngyösi is a Hungarian economist and former politician, who served as the leader of the political party Jobbik between 2023 and 2025. He was a Member of Parliament from 2010 to 2019. He was the leader of the Jobbik's parliamentary g ...

(

Jobbik The Jobbik – Movement for a Better Hungary (, ), commonly known as Jobbik (), and previously known as Conservatives () between 2023 and 2024, is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Hungary, political party in Hungary. Ori ...

Manon Aubry Manon Aubry (; born 22 December 1989) is a French politician who represents the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI). A former advocacy officer for Oxfam France, she won a seat in the 2019 European Parliament election and the same year ...

(

La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement th ...

), and

Terry Reintke Theresa Reintke (born 9 May 1987) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament from Germany since 2014. She is co-president of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Allian ...

(

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

), accused Szájer and Fidesz of hypocrisy, given the party's stances on LGBT issues. According to

András Fekete-Győr András Fekete-Győr (born 13 April 1989) is a Hungarian activist, lawyer and politician. He was the inaugural leader of the Momentum Movement () party from 2016 to 2021. Fekete-Győr became a nationally known political figure, when he led the ...

, the leader of the opposition party

Momentum Movement Momentum Movement (, Momentum) is a centrist Hungarian political party founded in March 2017. It came to national prominence as a political association in January 2017 after organizing a petition about the Budapest bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics ...

, the incident revealed the "complete moral bankruptcy of Fidesz". In the following days, a memorial plaque was attached to the drainpipe that Szájer had descended to escape the sex party. Street artist Laika also created a mural in Rome depicting Szájer as a gay icon. In 2010, Szájer had become an honorary citizen of

. As a result of the scandal, he resigned from the honorary citizenship on 3 December 2020.

Personal life

Szájer has been married since 1983 to Tünde Handó, who became a justice on the

Constitutional Court of Hungary The Constitutional Court of Hungary () is a special court of Hungary, making judicial review of the acts of the Parliament of Hungary. The official seat of the Constitutional Court is Budapest. Until 2012 the seat was Esztergom. The Constituti ...

in January 2020. The couple have a daughter born in 1987. In 2015,

Alliance of Free Democrats The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party (, , SZDSZ ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and of Liberal International. It drew its su ...

member Klára Ungár, who is openly

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, claimed that Szájer and another Fidesz politician

Máté Kocsis Máté Kocsis (born 6 May 1981) is a Hungarian jurist, sports administrator and politician, who served as Mayor of Józsefváros (8th district of Budapest) from 2009 to 2018. He also represents Józsefváros (Budapest Constituency XI then VI) in ...

were gay. Kocsis brought a defamation lawsuit against Ungár. He won in the lower court, but lost on appeal.

Books

*''Jogállam, szabadság, rendszerváltoztatás'' (1998) *''Európa'' (2004) *''Szabad Magyarország, szabad Európa'' (2014) *''Ne bántsd a magyart! Gondolatok a bevándorlásról, a Fideszről, Magyarországról, Alaptörvényünkről és Európáról'' (2019)

References

External links

* *
Fidesz
*

''book

book * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Szajer, Jozsef 1961 births Living people Budapest University alumni Fidesz politicians Fidesz MEPs Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1998–2002) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2002–2006) MEPs for Hungary 2004–2009 MEPs for Hungary 2009–2014 MEPs for Hungary 2014–2019 MEPs for Hungary 2019–2024 University of Michigan fellows Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Sopron Hungarian LGBTQ politicians Sex scandals in Hungary