József Szájer

József Szájer

József Szájer is a Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament of the Fidesz party. He resigned as MEP on 29 November 2020 after having been caught by Belgian police at a gay sex party on the night of 27 November.

About József Szájer in brief

Summary József SzájerJózsef Szájer is a Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament of the Fidesz party. He resigned as MEP on 29 November 2020 after having been caught by Belgian police at a gay sex party on the night of 27 November, in violation of local COVID-19 regulations. He was unable to produce any identity documents on the spot, so police escorted him to his home where he identified himself using a diplomatic passport. In 2009, re-elected, he was appointed head of the Hungarian EPP delegation and chief whip and vice-chairman of the European People’s Party group.

In 2019, he received the Petőfi Prize for his work on Hungary’s new constitution, which emphasised the definition of marriage as being between man and woman, in an apparent repudiation of calls for the recognition of same-sex marriage. In 2010, he became an honorary citizen of Sopron. Following his scandal, he resigned from the honorary citizenship on 3 December 2020. Prior to the scandal, there were already rumors that he was gay, which former politician Klára Ungár publicly denied.