By Rick Noack and Quentin Ariès
Berlin: A key political ally of right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has resigned after attending what local media outlets described as a "sex party" in the Belgian capital of Brussels on Friday night.
József Szájer, a founding member of Orbán's Fidesz party and a member of the European Parliament, confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that he "was present" at a "private party in Brussels on Friday."
A member of Victor Orban's illiberal Fidesz party has been caught at a sex party.Credit: AP
He had abruptly resigned Sunday from his parliamentary position, citing "a long period of reflection."
Szájer didn't mention the event in that initial resignation statement. But after multiple media outlets in Belgium and Hungary began disclosing information about the party, Szájer on Tuesday confirmed that he was present when police officers disrupted the event, held in violation of Belgium's coronavirus restrictions.
He attempted to escape "through the roof gutter," according to a Belgian newspaper, before being caught by officers. "This man was unable to produce any identity documents. He was taken to his home," Brussels' public prosecutor said in a statement, according to the La Dernière Heure newspaper.
In a statement sent by a spokesman for the centre-right political group in the European Parliament, Szájer denied reports that he had consumed drugs at the party, even though he confirmed that authorities said they found ecstasy. Prosecutors said they found narcotics in the backpack of an attendee whom they identified with Szájer's initials and year of birth.
If he were to be charged with drug offences, Brussels prosecutors would need to file a parliamentary immunity waiver to the European Parliament.
The Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper reported that a crowd of 25 mostly male visitors - including multiple people claiming diplomatic immunity - had attended the party only metres from a central Brussels police station.
Szájer was one of the architects of Hungary's new constitution, drafted starting in 2010, that drew fierce criticism from LGBT and human rights groups at the time. Human Rights Watch subsequently found that provisions in it "discriminate against LGBT people and limit women's rights."
In recent years, critics have accused Hungary's right-wing government of an increasingly illiberal stance, and repeated assaults against democratic institutions under the pretext of defending "Christian values." Last month, Orbán's government proposed a constitutional amendment to align children's upbringing with Hungary's "national self-identification and Christian culture" - a move that would de facto ban same-sex adoption.
In his statement on Tuesday, Szájer apologised to his family, colleagues and voters. He asked them to not extend their blame over his "misstep" to "my homeland, or to my political community."
But critics of the Hungarian government immediately seized on the news on Tuesday, accusing Szájer and his party of hypocrisy.
"The anti-LGBTI* hatred spread by the far right for years - including by Fidesz and PiS - is destroying people's lives," wrote Terry Reintke, a German Green party member of the European Parliament on Twitter, without directly referring to the incident. "Our fight against the attacks on fundamental rights - especially in Poland and Hungary - will continue."
Washington Post