page_title: Péter Szijjártó
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Péter Szijjártó / Career
caption_attribution_description: UNO Generalversammlung. EU Außenministertreffen. BM Sebastian Kurz im Gespräch mit dem ungarischen Außenminister. New York, 28.09.2015, Foto: Dragan Tatic
context_page_description: Péter Szijjártó is a Hungarian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade since 23 September 2014. He previously served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In June 2012 he was appointed to State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of the Prime Minister's Office.
  He joined Fidesz in 1998. He was elected to member of the municipal government in the same year in the city of Győr, and then he obtained a mandate between 2006 and 2010 again. In 2005 he was elected to president of Fidelitas, the youth organization of Fidesz and he occupied this position until 2009. He first became a member of the National Assembly in 2002. He received mandates in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 as well; currently he is serving his fourth term as Member of Parliament.
context_section_description: He began his political career in 1998, when he was elected as the youngest member of the Municipal Assembly of Győr. He served as vice chairman of the education, culture and sports committee. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Fidelitas, youth organization of Fidesz in Győr. He was elected a vice president of the Fidelitas 2001, and also became a member of the Fidesz's national board.
  Szijjártó has been a member of the National Assembly of Hungary since 2002. He was the youngest Member of the Parliament from 2002 to 2006. He was appointed Vice Chairman of the Committee on Youth and Sport Affairs in 2004, holding the office until 2006. He was elected President of the Fidelitas in 2005, replacing András Gyürk. He also became the leader of the Győr branch of Fidesz. He held the position of Fidelitas leader until 2009, when Péter Ágh was nominated as the new president.
  Before Fidesz came to power in May 2010, Szijjártó was the spokesman of Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union. He served as personal spokesman of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from 2010 to 2012.
  On 4 July 2012 Orbán nominated Szijjártó as the chairman of eight economic committees to boost the Hungarian government's policy of opening up trade with countries to the east as well as consolidating Hungary's role in supporting the Western Balkan nations' EU integration, the Central European Visegrád Group of heads of government announced the same day. Szijjártó, who had taken up the post on 2 July, also worked to strengthen co-operation with neighbouring countries.
  Prime Minister Viktor Orbán appointed Szijjártó as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in September 2014, when his predecessor Tibor Navracsics resigned due to his new position in the European Commission.
  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. He considered the aforementioned policy to be "irrational," and even threatening to a potential Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. 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.
caption: Szijjártó with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in 2015
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