A European Commission official initially noticed nothing unusual in regular meetings with an affable Hungarian mission diplomat during walks in Brussels parks. They met quarterly. Then the diplomat began showing interest not only in EU affairs, but also in gossip from the official's wide circle of contacts. Thus, according to materials from Direkt36 and De Tijd, a typical recruitment attempt by Hungarian intelligence — the Information Office (IH) — looked in the heart of European institutions.
What the investigation established
A joint investigation by Hungarian Direkt36 together with Belgian De Tijd, Paper Trail Media and Der Spiegel established: from 2015 to 2017, several employees of the Hungarian permanent representation in Brussels were IH officers under diplomatic cover. Their main task was to recruit Hungarian citizens working in EU institutions to gain access to sensitive materials.
Recruitment methods were straightforward: money, promises of career advancement, or appeals to "patriotic duty." The network operated so blatantly that by 2017 it was exposed — overly aggressive and careless actions by IH officers attracted the attention of allies' counterintelligence.
In parallel, as the same Direkt36 had previously discovered, the IH wiretapped investigators from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) who came to Hungary to inspect the company Elios — at that time it belonged to István Tiborcz, Orbán's son-in-law. The investigators were physically followed, their hotel rooms checked, their laptops hacked.
"The problem begins when this [spying against the EU] serves not the state, but the ruling clique — or even one person."
A European Commission official who rejected the recruitment attempt — in Direkt36's material
Why the scandal exploded in 2025, not in 2017
Hungary's permanent representation in Brussels from 2015–2019 was headed by Olivér Varhelyi. Today he is the European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare in von der Leyen's second cabinet. This is what turned an archived intelligence matter into an active institutional crisis.
Varhelyi told the Commission President personally that he "knew of no recruitment attempts" during the period he headed the mission. The European Commission launched an internal investigation and formed a special working group. Von der Leyen has not yet removed the commissioner.
35 MEPs sent a letter demanding the application of Article 17 of the Treaty on the EU — a provision that allows the president to forcibly resign a commissioner. More than 60 academics from over 30 countries through the Good Lobby Profs network also called on the EP and Commission to act. The head of the Renew Europe faction, Valérie Hayer, demanded that von der Leyen "use her powers."
The Hungarian side rejected the accusations, calling the investigation a "campaign of slander financed from abroad" ahead of the 2026 elections. However, according to The Good Lobby, the recruitment facts were confirmed by a former head of Hungarian intelligence.
Scale: not just a spy story
This case is not an anomaly, but a documented example of how an EU member state systematically gathered information against the institutions of which it is a member. The goal was clear: to get advance warning of any Brussels action that could threaten Orbán's interests — whether in rule of law matters or investigations into corruption in the prime minister's circle.
According to EUobserver's analysis, if von der Leyen does demand Varhelyi's resignation and he refuses, the case will go to the EU Court of Justice. The only precedent — the case of Commissioner Edith Cresson — ended without real sanctions. There is another option: to leave the position vacant until 2029 — this would deprive Hungary of a commissioner, but also of any accountability.
Transparency International EU demanded the creation of a parliamentary investigation commission and stressed: if the network indeed operated from the premises of an official representation, this is no longer just an intelligence incident, but systemic undermining of trust within the EU.
If the European Commission closes the case without Varhelyi's resignation — this will be a signal that a member state can spy on shared institutions for years and escape any institutional consequences. Whether von der Leyen is ready to set a different precedent will depend on whether the internal working group confirms the link between IH operations and the then-head of the mission.
