A dispute has erupted over an alleged handshake snub involving former parliamentary speaker László Kövér and Krisztián Kőszegi, a Tisza Party MP and deputy speaker, at a memorial ceremony in Báta on Sunday.
Kőszegi said Kövér refused to shake his hand during the event commemorating the 500th anniversary of the national assembly held in Báta before the Battle of Mohács. He shared a photograph appearing to show himself extending his hand while Kövér keeps his hands in his lap.
The photograph does not establish whether Kövér ultimately refused the handshake or whether the two politicians shook hands at another point during the ceremony.
‘We would expect more dignity from a former speaker’
Kőszegi criticised the alleged gesture, saying: “We would expect more dignity from a former speaker.” He argued that the history of the Battle of Mohács should serve as a reminder of the consequences of division replacing cooperation in a country.
The Tisza politician said Kövér’s “deliberate turning away” only deepened the social divisions he believes Fidesz had deliberately created over the past 16 years. Kövér served as Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament from 2010 until 2026, when Fidesz lost power following the parliamentary election.
Current Speaker: ‘It is simply inhumane’
Ágnes Forsthoffer, the current Speaker of Parliament, also reacted to the incident in a Facebook post, describing the photograph as “shocking”. “There is no way to sugar-coat it, this is simply inhumane to me. Humiliating,” Forsthoffer wrote.
She said a handshake should not be treated as an ideological issue, but as a basic human gesture. “A handshake is not about party affiliation, but about seeing the person in the other person first,” she wrote.
Forsthoffer also claimed that Kövér left the parliamentary office without meeting her. According to her account, he did not consider it important to say a few words of appreciation to the office staff he had worked with for 16 years.
She said Kövér came to Parliament to say goodbye to the staff while she was still undergoing her preparation for the role of Speaker, and that she had been advised to leave the building during his visit. Forsthoffer thanked Kőszegi for representing Parliament at the memorial ceremony and added: “Thank you for extending your hand on my behalf as well.”
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Fidesz does not deny the alleged snub
Fidesz communications director Bertalan Havasi was asked by Telex whether Kövér had indeed refused Kőszegi’s handshake and, if so, why. Havasi did not confirm the incident, but neither did he deny it. “I don’t know, I wasn’t there, and for that reason I wouldn’t disturb our party’s national council chairman on Sunday evening,” he said.
However, he went on to argue that, if the incident had happened, Kőszegi was a representative of the Tisza Party, which Fidesz accuses of undermining the democratic rule of law.
Havasi referred to Fidesz’s July “Declaration of Resistance”, in which the party declared its total opposition to what it described as Tisza’s “anti-democratic system”. He said Fidesz members and all Hungarians had the right to freely express their opposition to the Tisza Party and its representatives.
The exchange highlights the increasingly bitter political divide between Fidesz and Tisza, which has been in government since winning the April 2026 parliamentary election.
