Brussels – New chapter of the complicated relationship between the EU and Viktor Orbán: Budapest allegedly spied on the European Commission for years, through undercover secret service agents at Hungary’s Permanent Representation in Brussels. There is more: at that time, between 2012 and 2018, leading the Hungarian diplomatic corps at the EU was Olivér Várhelyi, current European Commissioner in the executive led by Ursula von der Leyen and former Commissioner in the first von der Leyen Commission.
The shock revelation comes from an investigation conducted by the Hungarian journalistic collective Direkt36, in cooperation with several newspapers, including the German
Der Spiegel, the Austrian Der Standard, and the Belgian
De Tijd
. A bombshell to which the European Commission had to react immediately: “We will set up an internal group to examine these allegations,” a Berlaymont spokesman announced today, adding that the executive “takes these allegations very seriously.”
Actually, this is not the first time that the Hungarian Information Office (IH) has been accused of conducting espionage operations on European officials on behalf of Orbán. Last year, Direkt36 itself had documented a similar case: Between 2015 and 2017, Budapest’s intelligence services had surveilled and intercepted staff of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which at the time was investigating a company owned by the prime minister’s son-in-law for suspected misuse of EU funds. The affair was even the subject of a debate in the EU Parliament in January 2025.
Olivér Várhelyi and Ursula von der Leyen at the Berlaymont Building, June 2022
This time, however, the revelations concern a much larger target. And they also involve—or at least touch—Orbán’s trusted man in Brussels, Olivér Várhelyi, who has been a member of Ursula von der Leyen‘s College of Commissioners since 2019, first as Commissioner for Enlargement and currently as Commissioner for Animal Health and Welfare. Between 2015 and 2019, however, Várhelyi was already in Brussels as Hungary’s Permanent Representative to the European Union. It is highly unlikely that, given his position, he was unaware of the espionage activities taking place in his embassy.
Based on interviews conducted with dozens of insiders (former members of the Hungarian Permanent Representation and the IH, diplomats of other member states stationed in Brussels, and officials of the European Commission itself) the investigation reconstructed a scheme whereby members of Hungarian intelligence, officially employed at the Representation, tried to recruit Hungarian citizens working in the European executive to extract valuable information to the interests of the government.
According to testimonies reported by Direkt36, diplomatic undercover agents tried to bribe fellow EU officials with money, career advancement opportunities or appeals to their patriotic duty. In reality, the aim was to ensure—as in the case of the espionage against OLAF—that Orbán himself received advance information about any action from Brussels that might threaten his interests. Indeed, between 2012 and 2018, relations between the sovereignist leader and the European Commission deteriorated, with several disputes over media freedom, rule of law and judicial independence, and misuse of EU funds.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub