Yet Another Hair-Raising Statement from Zoltan Tarr Leaked, Tisza Party's Plan No Longer a Secret

"Even in a good marriage we give up certain parts of our sovereignty, and people do not do this sobbing and tearing their hair out, but obviously with a huge celebration, a wedding party," argued Zoltan Tarr at a party event, claiming that Hungary must give up part of its self-determination within the European Union. The words uttered by the Tisza Party VP confirm what Peter Magyar had previously said about giving up part of our sovereignty. In practice, this has already implied the obligatory adoption of the European People’s Party’s positions.

Zoltan Tarr, head of the Tisza Party’s EP delegation (Photo: MTI/Boglarka Bodnar)

Hungary must give up certain parts of its sovereignty in the European Union, and we do this gladly, emphasized Peter Magyar’s VP at one of the Tisza Party’s forums in Budapest, details of which Magyar Nemzet has already published.

In a recording received by our editorial staff, Zoltan Tarr compared Hungary’s EU membership to a marriage and used this parallel to justify why we must voluntarily limit our self-determination.

Promising Everything to the Other

The Tisza Party’s MEP literally said: "The European Union has many advantages for us, one could list them. Let me use the image that obviously it is like a marriage, a good marriage – such things exist, right – when two people enter into marriage, they give up certain parts of their own sovereignty, and in most cases they do not, how should I say, do this sobbing and tearing their hair out, but obviously with a huge celebration, a wedding party, with incredible joy and promising everything to the other. Hungary is part of the European Union, obviously it has given up certain things in certain matters, but in return it has received something it could not have obtained in any other way. (…) For us, the essence and the important thing is the European Union and a strong Europe – though not coming before Hungary – but that we think in terms of a strong Europe.

We Hungarians have a chance if we are part of a strong Europe. A strong Europe means that sovereign states work together, and where cooperation is advantageous, they put a lot into this cooperation. 

If something can be done better by two, three, ten, or twenty-seven together than alone, then it is worth doing it that way, because greater strength and efficiency can be achieved."

This long argument, however, does not reflect reality, since the European Union is far from the time when it could be called strong. It has been struggling with a crisis for years, and Brussels institutions function increasingly as an imperial center, as opposed to the idealized cooperation of sovereign member states described by Tarr.

Obligation to Adhere to the EPP's Position

From the beginning, however, the Tisza Party has pursued a policy of unconditional submission, as revealed by the vice president’s earlier statements.

It is worth recalling that Peter Magyar’s confidant admitted in an interview with the Republikon Institute: "I don’t have firm, well-developed positions on every issue, including domestic politics, and that’s no secret… For that reason we rely heavily on the EPP line, which is also a kind of obligation. If we are members of something, we should not constantly question how and in what way we represent the obligations and positions that come with that membership."

Like a Love Relationship

In the same autumn 2024 interview, he also presented a theory that is almost embarrassing, and eerily similar to the marriage analogy heard in the newly leaked recording. "From the very first moment I was received and continue to be received with enormous love and support, and it was like going into a family where you had not been for a long time because you had wandered the world for a long time, or like as a new member meeting a family through a love relationship, and that family becomes your own”  the MEP said about the Tsza Party's relationship with the European People’s Party.

Pre-School Adjustment

Not much later, in January 2025, the Tisza Party vice president gave an interview to Gulyasagyu Media, where he was asked what results they could show from their first few months of activity in Brussels. He began his answer by saying: "the first thing would be that I think we have managed to integrate well not only into the People's Party, into the community..." At that point, the presenter interjected, "so it was like preschool settling-in", to which Zoltan Tarr agreed and added that "though there was not as much crying and as much fighting as in preschool."

Peter Magyar Would Also Give Up Part of Self-Determination

But it is not only Zoltan Tarr who finds it joyful if Hungary gives up its sovereignty, as previously the Tisza Party’s president himself had spoken about this.

Peter Magyar expressed his view on Hungary’s potential accession to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in a video program, where he said: "Indeed, a member state that wants to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has to give up a small part of its national sovereignty. But we already gave up a much larger part of that sovereignty when we joined the European Union, or when we entered the Schengen area, and actually in many cases of legislation we still give up a small part of sovereignty."