“Hungary’s intelligence service spied on EU officials who visited Budapest by searching their hotel rooms and downloading information from laptops, alleges a joint report by Belgian newspaper De Tijd and Hungarian NGO Direkt36, published Friday (6 December).”
How long will they be tolerated? What exactly do they need to do to face serious punishment, if I may ask?
At what point do we consider them a hostile state actor and remove them from the EU? Because this seems like it should be a line. Especially when what they steal will go to Russia.
Everyone spies on everyone. This is getting traction only because this sub as a Hungarian deranged syndrome or an army of bot pushing a narrative
We all know it. It is obvious to see.
Can we start calling Hungary for what it really is?
Russia Light “same taste, but with more corruption added!”
Everyone spies on everyone. Nothing to see here.
get rid of him or we’ll get rid of your country… this has to stop.
Nobody bothered with US spying but this is some news?
Who cares? Our US “allies” do it all the time and there have never been any consequences.
A joint report alleges that Hungarian intelligence searched EU officials’ hotel rooms, and stole data from laptops.
Updated to include comments from the Hungarian government.
The Hungarian spy agency, Információs Hivatal (IH), also collected information from Hungarian citizens working in the EU institutions – either by getting them to cooperate or by spying on them without their knowledge, the report says.
While concerns about espionage targeting the EU institutions are nothing new, these reports are extraordinary because they concern alleged spying by an EU member state, rather than more predictable adversaries like Russia and China.
The alleged espionage stretches back several years, though officials from EU institutions and member states have been travelling to the Hungarian capital more often than usual in recent months because the country holds the rotating ‘presidency’ of the Council of the EU. Responsibility for the role changes every six months, with member states taking turns to chair ministerial discussions and host various high-level meetings in their own country.
De Tijd reports that “almost an entire division within the IH has been developed” to monitor EU institutions. The Flemish-language newspaper cites “several sources familiar with the inner workings of the Hungarian intelligence service.”
The report goes into particular detail on the targeted surveillance of investigators from the EU’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, during 2015-2017. OLAF was investigating possible misuse of EÜ funds and sent officials to Hungary on four occasions. Hungarian intelligence officers recorded the OLAF investigators’ phone calls, followed them around and spied on private meetings.
OLAF investigators noticed that they were being followed on car journeys, the report states. The EU anti-fraud organisation declined to answer De Tijd’s questions about the matter.
Not only OLAF was targeted, “according to our sources, there were periods when almost all EU delegations visiting Hungary were spied on,” reports De Tijd.
Euractiv has not independently verified the allegations published in *De Tijd* but has contacted the Hungarian government and the European Commission for comment.
“We are not dealing with fake news reports,” said the Hungarian government.
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“Hungary’s intelligence service spied on EU officials who visited Budapest by searching their hotel rooms and downloading information from laptops, alleges a joint report by Belgian newspaper De Tijd and Hungarian NGO Direkt36, published Friday (6 December).”
How long will they be tolerated? What exactly do they need to do to face serious punishment, if I may ask?
At what point do we consider them a hostile state actor and remove them from the EU? Because this seems like it should be a line. Especially when what they steal will go to Russia.
Everyone spies on everyone. This is getting traction only because this sub as a Hungarian deranged syndrome or an army of bot pushing a narrative
We all know it. It is obvious to see.
Can we start calling Hungary for what it really is?
Russia Light “same taste, but with more corruption added!”
Everyone spies on everyone. Nothing to see here.
get rid of him or we’ll get rid of your country… this has to stop.
Nobody bothered with US spying but this is some news?
Who cares? Our US “allies” do it all the time and there have never been any consequences.
A joint report alleges that Hungarian intelligence searched EU officials’ hotel rooms, and stole data from laptops.
Updated to include comments from the Hungarian government.
**Hungary’s intelligence service spied on EU officials who visited Budapest by searching their hotel rooms and downloading information from laptops, alleges a** [**joint report**](https://www.tijd.be/politiek-economie/europa/algemeen/van-doorzochte-hotelkamers-tot-achtervolgde-fraudespeurders-hongarije-bespioneert-eu-instellingen/10577507.html) **by Belgian newspaper De Tijd and Hungarian NGO Direkt36, published Friday (6 December)**.
The Hungarian spy agency, Információs Hivatal (IH), also collected information from Hungarian citizens working in the EU institutions – either by getting them to cooperate or by spying on them without their knowledge, the report says.
While concerns about espionage targeting the EU institutions are nothing new, these reports are extraordinary because they concern alleged spying by an EU member state, rather than more predictable adversaries like Russia and China.
The alleged espionage stretches back several years, though officials from EU institutions and member states have been travelling to the Hungarian capital more often than usual in recent months because the country holds the rotating ‘presidency’ of the Council of the EU. Responsibility for the role changes every six months, with member states taking turns to chair ministerial discussions and host various high-level meetings in their own country.
De Tijd reports that “almost an entire division within the IH has been developed” to monitor EU institutions. The Flemish-language newspaper cites “several sources familiar with the inner workings of the Hungarian intelligence service.”
The report goes into particular detail on the targeted surveillance of investigators from the EU’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, during 2015-2017. OLAF was investigating possible misuse of EÜ funds and sent officials to Hungary on four occasions. Hungarian intelligence officers recorded the OLAF investigators’ phone calls, followed them around and spied on private meetings.
OLAF investigators noticed that they were being followed on car journeys, the report states. The EU anti-fraud organisation declined to answer De Tijd’s questions about the matter.
Not only OLAF was targeted, “according to our sources, there were periods when almost all EU delegations visiting Hungary were spied on,” reports De Tijd.
Euractiv has not independently verified the allegations published in *De Tijd* but has contacted the Hungarian government and the European Commission for comment.
“We are not dealing with fake news reports,” said the Hungarian government.
*[Edited by Rajnish Singh]*
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