The European Commission is continuing to press for clarification after reports that Hungary has passed on internal EU information to Russia.
Journalistic reports have pointed to “the alarming possibility of a member state’s government coordinating with Russia, thus actively working against the security and the interests of the EU and all its citizens,” a spokeswoman for the European Commission said on Thursday.
“This is therefore extremely concerning, and it is for the member state’s government in question to explain itself as a matter of urgency,” she said, adding that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would also raise the issue among EU leaders.
A network of European investigative platforms have suggested that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regularly passed on internal EU information to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
The platforms base their claims on intercepted telephone conversations between Szijjártó and Lavrov, which are said to have been obtained by Western intelligence services.
Szijjártó is also said to have called his Russian counterpart on December 14, 2023, during a break in negotiations at an EU summit focused on the start of accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU – threatened to veto the move unless the EU released €22 billion in frozen EU aid for Budapest.
According to the investigative outlet VSquare, Lavrov told Szijjártó over the phone: “Sometimes good-willed direct blackmailing is the best option.”
In the end, however, neither Orbán’s veto nor the release of EU funds materialized, with the Hungarian minister simply leaving the chamber during the vote.