Péter Szijjártó

2015

During a breakfast meeting of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in Jerusalem on November 16, 2015, Szijjártó said that Hungary would not place the settlements labeling on products originating from the West Bank. This decision followed the Notice adopted by the European Commission on November 11, 2015, incorporating guidelines to label imports from the Israeli settlements.^[5] He considered the aforementioned policy to be "irrational," and even threatening to a potential Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.^[6] Szijjártó also addressed the contemporary European migration crisis, describing mass migration as "the greatest challenge that the EU has had to face since its foundation" and condemning European leaders for the misguided policies their political correctness engendered.^[6]

2020

Szijjártó visited Cambodia on November 3, 2020, to hold several meetings with high-ranking government officials, and tested positive for COVID-19 the following day after flying to Bangkok.^[7] Four close contacts in Cambodia subsequently tested positive, which prompted government officials from 13 Cambodian government ministries, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, to enter quarantine, and contact tracing efforts were made to seven provinces and tests administered on around 1,000 people.^[8][9] Cambodian authorities closed schools, museums, cinemas, entertainment venues, gyms, beer gardens across Phnom Penh for two weeks.^[7] Local media reported that the Hungarian Foreign Ministry had requested for no temperature checks, mandatory mask wearing and alcohol spraying ahead of the meetings.^[10]

2021

On 16 October 2021 Szijjártó was interviewed by Al Jazeera English during which time he was forced to defend his government's policies from attacks by Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte. He explained his Parliament's law on the rights of the parent and child to security against what he referred to as bizarre ideologies and highlighted the preference of his government for referendums to settle outstanding political issues. He clarified that the George Soros-founded and -funded Central European University needed to meet the criteria set out in Hungarian law regarding domestic content and staff that all other Hungarian universities need to meet in order to certify degrees in Hungary, rather than have it be an outlier.^[11]

2023

Szijjártó expressed support for Israel during the Gaza war. He criticized South Africa's genocide case against Israel, saying that accusing a "country that has suffered a terrorist attack of genocide is obviously nonsense."^[12]

2025

Szijjártó expressed his support for the government of Serbia during the student-led anti-corruption protests, accusing the protesters of wanting to destabilize Serbia.^[13]

2026

In March 2026, Szijjártó told that he called Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov before and after EU meetings. He had visited Moscow, including meeting with Vladimir Putin, 16 times since the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[14]

The same month, The Insider released a recording of a phone call between Szijjártó and Lavrov from August 2024, where Lavrov reminded him to ask for Gulbahor Ismailova, the sister of Alisher Usmanov, to be removed from the list of persons under European Union sanctions. In another call, he allegedly told Lavrov "I am always at your disposal."^[15] He also appeared to offer to send Lavrov a document about Ukraine's European Union accession.^[16] Poland and Ireland referred to the apparent leaked audio as "repulsive" and "sinister".^[17]