József Szájer

József Szájer (born on 7 September 1961) is a Hungarian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Hungary. He is a member of Fidesz, part of the European People's Party. He is a Vice-Chairman and chief whip of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs.

Szájer is a substitute for the Committee on International Trade, a member of the Delegation for relations with the United States.

Education

• 1986 - legal expert, Eötvös Loránd University, Political Science and Law Department, Budapest
• 1983-1986 - member of Bibó István College
• 1986-1987 - Balliol College, Oxford University
• 1988-1989 - research scholarship at University of Michigan
• 1996 - bar examination

Tutorial and legal works

• 1985-1986 - Head of the Hungarian Oxford Society
• 1986-1996 - assistant lecturer at ELTE Law, Department of Roman Law
• 1990-1996 - senior lecturer at ELTE Law, Department of Roman Law
• 1988-1989 - research scholarship at University of Michigan
• 1996-2000 - lawyer

Member of the Hungarian Assembly (1990-2004)

• 1988 - FIDESZ Party’s founding member
• 1989-1990 - participant of Hungarian Round Table Talks
• 1989-1992 - Steering Committee's member of FIDESZ
• 1992-1993 - Steering Committee's leader of FIDESZ
• 1990-2004 - member of the Hungarian National Assembly
• 1990-1994 - deputy leader of Fidesz Parliamentary Group
• 1994-2002 - leader of Fidesz Parliamentary Group
• 1998-2002 - chairman of European Integration Committee
• 1996-2003 - vice-president of Fidesz Party
• 2002-2004 - vice-chairman of the Hungarian National Assembly and as the deputy-leader of the Fidesz Parliamentary Group
• 2003-2004 - member of the European Convention
• 2003-2004 - observer member of the European Parliament

In 2000 he received the honour of the Knight Commander of St Michael and St George (KCMG) from Queen Elizabeth II.

Member of the European Parliament (2004-)

• 2004-2009 - Vice-Chairmen in the Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats
• 2000-2011 - member of the Council of European People's Party
• 2003-2009 - leader of the Hungarian EPP-ED Delegation
• 2009-2011 - president of the Hungarian EPP Delegation
• 2009- chief whip and vice-chairman of the Group of the European People's Party

Committees in the European Parliament: between 2004-2007 he worked as a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection then worked as a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (2007- 2014). Meanwhile between 2004 and 2014 he became a substitute of Committee on Legal Affairs. From 2014 he has been an active member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and as substitute of the Committee on International Trade.

Delegations in the European Parliament: member of the Delegation for relations with the United States from 2009. (He was a substitute from 2007 to 2009.) He became a substitute of the Delegation for relations with the Mercosur countries (2004-2014).

He is also the founding Member of Szabadság kör (2007), signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism. (2008), honorary citizen of Sopron (2010), chairman of Drafting Committee of the New Constitution of Hungary (2011) and the Leader of National Consultative Committee (2011).

Books

• Jogállam, Szabadság, Rendszerváltoztatás (1998),
• Európa (2004),
• Szabad Magyarország, szabad Európa (2014)