European Commission demands explanations from Hungary over alleged data leak to Russia
Photo: Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Foreign Minister (Getty Images)
The European Commission expects the Hungarian government to provide clarifications on any possible transfer of confidential information from EU Council ministerial-level meetings to Russian authorities, states European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper during a briefing.
"Relationship of trust between member states and between them and the institution is fundamental for the work of the EU. And we expect the Hungarian government to provide clarifications," the spokesperson for the European Commission said.
When asked how the issue would be addressed and whether stricter security rules were planned, Anitta Hipper noted that the facts first need to be established and explanations obtained.
"There are rules concerning different levels of classification of documents in the EU systems. There are different levels of restrictions, and different levels of restrictions have different requirements," the spokesperson explained.
Whether Hungary’s access to data has been restricted
Hipper did not confirm reports that Hungary had been restricted in receiving confidential EU information.
She said that all member states are, of course, kept in constant contact with, and that a huge number of topics are coordinated with member states every day, which, of course, includes Hungary.
In addition, the spokesperson denied reports that the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen avoids meetings attended by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. According to her, von der Leyen is in constant contact with all EU leaders, including Orbán.
What preceded it
The Washington Post reported that Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had informed Russia about negotiations with the EU. At the same time, the article did not state that the minister may have been wiretapped.
These details later appeared in the pro-government Hungarian media outlet Mandiner, which published an audio recording in which investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi speaks with a woman who is believed to work at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mandiner claimed that Panyi had allegedly provided Szijjártó’s phone number to the intelligence service of one of the EU countries so that it could monitor the minister. The journalist himself explained that he had spoken with a source who was trying to verify information about Szijjártó published by The Washington Post.
According to Panyi, the wiretapping may not have been related to the sharing of the phone number, but rather to the fact that the minister communicated with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov via an unsecured line.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reacted angrily to the exposure of Szijjártó’s controversial conversations and compared it to an attack on the country. He also said he had instructed the justice minister to conduct an investigation into reports of the wiretapping.
RBC-Ukraine also reported that Russian intelligence had planned to stage an assassination attempt on Orbán. According to journalists, the provocation was intended to influence the course of elections in the country.
