In 2012-2018, the Information Bureau of Hungary (foreign intelligence agency) created and used a spy network in Brussels. Citizens of Hungary who worked in the institutions of the European Union were instructed to «merge confidential internal documents. They were also asked to edit drafts of documents to make sure that the texts reflected the worldview of Viktor Orbán’s government. Spies attempting to recruit EU officials operated under diplomatic cover at the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the EU. This became known thanks to the investigation published on October 9, 2025, which was jointly conducted by the Hungarian publication Direkt36, the Belgian newspaper De Tijd, the German publications Paper Trail Media and Der Spiegel, as well as the Austrian newspaper Der Standard.
Spies V. Orbán was interested both in official EU affairs and in any gossip that spread in the network of contacts of officials of European institutions. The main objectives of infiltrating EU institutions and deploying an intelligence network were Hungarian citizens working in Brussels institutions.
Aware of the fact that money will not be a motivating factor for EU officials of Hungarian origin, spies V. Orbán was used in different approaches. For example, in one case, a person was asked to provide funding for a certain organization close to that official. Other persons were offered promotion in career growth, another – was called to fulfill a patriotic duty. In general, everyone is used to the fact that in Brussels, where EU institutions, NATO headquarters and other international organizations are located, the collection of intelligence data is most actively conducted by Russian, Chinese or Iranian special services, however, regime B. Orbana in Hungary apparently decided to change this rule. Moreover, individual Hungarian spies, including the head of the residency, acted recklessly, ignoring the main measures of the conspiracy, as a result of which some recruitment attempts not only failed, but were also made public.
Currently, there is no information on how many Hungarians who worked in the EU institutions in 2012-2018 were successfully recruited by Hungarian intelligence. It is known that the Hungarian intelligence service tried to act on a large scale. Every Hungarian citizen who worked in EU institutions and had potential intelligence value was considered a recruitment target and subjected to thorough verification using government databases, open source information and even so-called «biography studies». After this check, Hungarian intelligence chose which European officials should be approached through those Hungarian agents who worked under diplomatic cover in Brussels. If recruitment was successful, then meetings with recruited persons usually took place already on the territory of Hungary.
As for the period 2012-2018, it was already known that Hungarian intelligence worked de facto against the EU. Thus, the Hungarian Information Bureau monitored and tapped European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) investigators during their work in Budapest. Among other things, OLAF employees were inspecting the company Elios (which was then owned by son-in-law V. Orbán – to Istvan Tibortz) due to suspicion of misuse of funds from EU funds. Follow-up of OLAF employees was conducted by a separate unit specially designated for intelligence operations directed against the European Union. Investigative journalists from the above-mentioned publications claim that the Belgian special services are well aware of this whole story. At the same time, the European Commission decided not to limit itself to a corresponding request to law enforcement agencies, but decided to create a special internal group to investigate the accusations made public by a team of journalists from four countries against Hungary. This was announced by the spokesman of the European Commission, Balazh Uivari, on October 9, 2025. He stressed that the EC had taken note of the information that Hungarian spies had attempted to recruit European officials, including an EC staff member, and had taken it very seriously.
A spokesman for the EC confirmed that between 2015 and 2019, Hungary’s ambassador to the EU was Oliver Vargei, who later became a member of the European Commission. Answering journalists’ questions about the verification of the actions of the European Commissioner from Hungary, under whose leadership Hungarian agents probably worked in the specified years, Balazs Uivari noted that at the moment it is only about accusations, and now they are being carefully checked. The EC spokesman also noted that the EU executive body did not have any negative information about him at the time of Oliver Vargei’s appointment to the EC.
This whole story can greatly undermine trust between states within the European Union. Hungary under the leadership of the government of V. Orbana has long been criticized for authoritarian tendencies, non-compliance with the principle of the rule of law, pro-Russian rhetoric and concrete actions in favor of Moscow. If the Hungarian spies in Brussels were really able to cause serious damage to the activities of the EU institutions, then relations between the European Commission and official Budapest will become even worse. EU, then relations between the European Commission and official Budapest will become even worse.
Many European officials and officials who rejected the recruitment attempt later explained their motivation to the investigators by the fact that the agents of the Information Bureau of Hungary worked not so much for their native country as for the ruling regime of B. Orbana, and these were completely different things in their eyes. At the same time, so far no one rejects the possibility that Hungarian agents, in general, also worked in the interests of third parties, namely – Russia and/or China! By the way, due to Hungary’s close ties with Russia, Belgian officers jokingly call their Hungarian colleagues «matryoshka».
In general, according to observers, it is not just about another espionage scandal, but about a «litmus test» to determine the future of the entire EU, because if one of the EU countries (such as Hungary) is suspected of espionage, it undermines trust between all partners. Against this background, the European Commission and the European Parliament announced the strengthening of internal security measures (tougher checks for European officials and MEPs, restrictions on access to confidential information, new cyber security standards, etc.). A likely consequence of this scandal is a decrease in the exchange of intelligence data or the exclusion of individual countries from joint EU security initiatives.
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