Hungarian intelligence surveilled the EU? KE: The espionage investigation group has started work

The task force that was supposed to investigate reports on the alleged spy ring operating in Brussels in the permanent representation of Hungary to the EU has already been established and has started its work, European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said on Monday.

Ujvari recalled that last year the European Commission looked into the allegations against the Hungarian embassy to the EU and very quickly came to the conclusion that an internal working group should be established to investigate the circumstances of the case.

– This group has been established, has started work and continues to work – said the spokesman, adding, however, that due to the nature of this work he cannot provide more information.

This is a case reported late last year by the media, including the German weekly “Der Spiegel”, the Flemish daily “De Tijd” and the Hungarian independent website Direkt36, which revealed that Hungarian intelligence officers posed as diplomats and tried to infiltrate EU institutions in 2012-2018, with a peak of activity in 2015-2017.

The Commission decided to establish a working group after the name of the EU Commissioner for Animal Health and Welfare, Oliver Varhelyi, emerged in the scandal. According to media reports, espionage activities were to be coordinated by the permanent representation of Hungary to the EU in Brussels, headed by Varhelyi in 2015. The Hungarian politician served as EU Commissioner for Enlargement in the years 2019-2024, and in the new EC he received the already mentioned portfolio of Commissioner for Health.

On Monday, Varhelyi was asked by MEPs from the European Parliament's budgetary control committee whether he was aware of the Hungarian government's espionage activities and whether, as Hungary's ambassador to the EU, he had ever been asked to provide sensitive information to Budapest. Varhelyi replied that he had no knowledge of the allegations that appeared in the media, and assured that he had never been contacted by any services, Hungarian or other.

– The Commission is investigating this matter. It even established a task force, the commissioner said.

From Brussels Jowita Kiwnik Pargana (PAP)

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