Hungary’s former trade and foreign affairs minister Péter Szijjártó is stepping down as an MP after accepting what he described as an “extremely honourable offer from one of the defining companies of the global economy.” That company is BYD, the Chinese electric-vehicle giant, where he is set to take up an executive role.
“The only difference from before is that, from now on, Péter Szijjártó will no longer be paid by the Hungarian people for the same ‘work,’ but by his actual employer,” Prime Minister Péter Magyar responded pointedly on social media.
Szijjártó was long the public face of former prime minister Viktor Orbán’s “Eastern Opening” doctrine, a strategy aimed at deepening economic ties with China, Russia and other Asian countries. In recent years, Orbán’s government drew roughly a quarter of all Chinese investment in Europe through tax breaks and infrastructure deals.
A magnet for Chinese investment
Chinese firms including Huawei and BYD have relocated or established their European headquarters in Hungary. BYD, in particular, secured substantial Hungarian and Chinese state subsidies for its plant in the Szeged region, a package that prompted a 2025 EU investigation into potential illegal foreign state aid, which remains ongoing.
China’s electric-car exports, and increasingly its production sites, have been a source of friction across Europe for years, turning into a significant geopolitical and economic battleground.
Following a major anti-subsidy probe launched in late 2023, the European Commission imposed tariffs on Chinese electric cars. BYD was hit with a 17 percent tariff on top of the EU’s standard 10 percent car import tax. Even then, the lack of a unified China policy was evident. France and Italy welcomed the tariffs, while Spain and Germany criticised the move over fears of retaliation. Slovakia and Hungary also opposed it.
To sidestep the steep import tariffs, Chinese manufacturers quickly shifted production inside the EU. Examples include BYD’s plant in Hungary, Chery’s joint venture in Spain, and Leapmotor’s assembly line in Poland.
An electric shock for Brussels
Chinese brands now account for more than 15 percent of electric-vehicle sales in Europe. A fresh wave of economic tension has fuelled policies such as “Made in Europe” and warnings about new “unilateral” trade tools aimed at China.
Returning to Szijjártó, the Moscow-friendly minister long viewed with suspicion in Brussels, his move to BYD offers a striking illustration of the so-called “revolving doors” phenomenon. In Hungary, there is no cooling-off period he must observe, no disclosure form requiring him to explain the offer, and no ethics body he must answer to. A former minister can leave office one morning and, in principle, be walking the halls of the very company he spent years courting on the state’s behalf by the same evening.
This is hardly unique to Hungary. Only seven EU member states impose any kind of restriction on the post-office activities of former officials.
Serious allegations at the BYD site
BYD, however, is not just any employer. Two workers have died at its Hungarian site this year.
The NGO China Labor Watch has alleged the existence of forced labour at the site, reporting that Chinese migrant workers faced 14-hour shifts, seven-day weeks, wages withheld for months, recruitment-fee debt bondage, confiscated documents, and instructions to mislead inspectors. These remain allegations, and BYD has not been found liable for them.
According to the report, the subcontractor at the centre of the claims was a subsidiary of the same Chinese construction conglomerate previously linked to conditions that Brazil’s labour minister described as “analogous to slavery” at another BYD site in 2024. The European Commission says it is aware of the allegations but that it falls to Hungarian authorities to investigate and act.
Separately, the company was fined 10 million forint (€28,700) for soil contamination that forced the destruction of some crops. As the minister in office at the time, and with close ties to Beijing, Szijjártó was not a distant figure in this story.
Questions over trust and funding
This week, MEPs on the European Parliament’s budget and budgetary control committees questioned three EU commissioners over Brussels’ frozen funds for Hungary and whether the new government can be trusted. With the Commission leaning towards unlocking up to €16 billion, MEPs are demanding guarantees on anti-fraud measures and conflicts of interest, and questioning whether Budapest’s decision to finally join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is sufficient to safeguard taxpayers’ money.
Hungary’s new government has moved on anti-corruption reforms, judicial independence and academic freedom. “There is a clear change of direction in Hungary,” Michael McGrath, the commissioner for the rule of law, said this week.
Yet that shift appears not to extend to China. Magyar said in April that he would “review” Chinese investments in the country, but “not to shut them down or prevent them from happening.”
Meanwhile, the EU’s own car industry still faces what the Commission has called “mortal danger,” with some 600,000 jobs said to be at risk.
