Balázs Győrffy, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Hungarian conservative ruling party Fidesz, has resigned after admitting to hitting a woman. Fidesz immediately responded with a statement saying it does not tolerate violence and that Győrffy has no place in the party, and must resign from all his public positions.
“Fidesz has clear rules and values, and whoever violates them cannot be a member of our community,” reads the party’s statement, posted on Facebook. They added: “We do not tolerate violence, especially against women!”
In a Facebook post uploaded on Friday, Győrffy admitted to getting into a drunken argument, which turned violent, with a woman on Thursday night.
“Although I regrettably do not remember what happened, what I did is unacceptable. I would like to apologise to everyone, especially the person involved. I would like to apologise to my family, my supporters, and my political community,” the MEP said, adding that he is resigning from all his public offices, including as an MEP, and as the president of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture. He is also quitting Fidesz.
According to tabloid Blikk, Balázs Győrffy got into an altercation with a group of people at a nightclub in Budapest. After a heated exchange of words, a fight broke out, during which the MEP hit a woman. Police had to be called to the scene, and one of the partygoers was seriously injured.
The incident has sparked a myriad of news reports and reactions in Hungary, with well-known conservative journalist Dániel Bohár stating that “there is no place in the patriotic community for men who hurt women.” In his post, he mentioned Péter Magyar, the leader of the strongest opposition party in Hungary, who is alleged to have physically and mentally abused his wife, former Justice Minister Judit Varga, yet was welcomed with open arms to the centre-right European People’s Party.
Péter Magyar was also previously involved in a similar situation to Balázs Győrffy’s, acting aggressively with partygoers at a nightclub, and throwing a man’s mobile phone into the Danube.
As conservative daily Magyar Nemzet points out, alluding to Péter Magyar:
While there are no consequences for anything on the political Left, Fidesz does not associate with people who behave violently towards women. This is not the case everywhere, in other parties violence against women is rewarded, and the violent politician wants to be prime minister.
Leftist MEPs would be wise to take heed of the incident in Budapest. In their ranks sits Ilaria Salis, who brutally attacked innocent people in the Hungarian capital as part of a radical leftist militant group, was jailed and then placed under house arrest in Hungary, but was inexplicably nominated and elected as an MEP for the Italian Greens and Left Alliance so that she would gain legal immunity from further house arrest.
