Hungarian Spy Ring Operated from Brussels Embassy, Targeted EU Officials

BRUSSELS — A Hungarian spy ring operated out of the country's embassy in Brussels and its work intensified in 2015, according to a European Commission document seen by POLITICO.

The document, dated April this year, summarizes the findings of an investigation by Piotr Serafin, the anti-fraud commissioner who was tasked with looking into allegations that Hungarian intelligence officers stationed at the country's permanent representation in Brussels attempted to recruit officials from EU institutions in the mid-2010s.

From 2013 to 2016, Hungarian spy agencies sent several officials to work at the permanent representation, Serafin's investigation found.

“The activities of those intelligence officers in Brussels were initially discreet but gradually became much more overt from 2015 onwards,” the document says.

As a result of the increased activity, the spy ring's existence became “known among circles of European Hungarian officials, which apparently hampered the efficacy of their efforts,” the document says. “To the best of our understanding, these activities stopped in 2016.”

In 2015, Olivér Várhelyi became the country’s EU ambassador and headed up the office. Várhelyi is now the commissioner for health and animal welfare. He started working at the permanent representation in 2011.

When press reports last year first alleged that the embassy was allegedly hosting a spy ring, Várhelyi told Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that he was “not aware” of the alleged Hungarian efforts.

He doubled down in January this year when quizzed on the scandal by EU lawmakers. Várhelyi said he hadn't been approached by intelligence services to pass on secret information. “Have I been approached by the Hungarian or any other services? No, I have not,” he told MEPs in a European Parliament committee meeting.

Várhelyi did not respond to a request for comment.

Serafin’s investigation also failed to single out any individual responsible.

“On the basis of the information gathered during the investigation, and with the limited tools currently available to the Commission, it is not possible to attribute individual responsibility or involvement beyond that of the intelligence officers themselves,” the document says.

The document, which was sent to MEPs, said the Commission was “not aware” of any “serious” security breaches.

Nevertheless, it does detail some of its findings — and confirms for the first time the spy ring’s existence, as well as its targeting of EU officials.

“The intelligence officers used their official position to fulfil a specific mission that appears to have gone beyond the tasks that are usually associated with those of diplomats in the Permanent Representation,” it said.

“This involved, in particular, approaching Commission officials of Hungarian nationality and attempting to collect detailed information from them regarding work within the Commission on topics of specific interest to the Hungarian government,” it continued.

The Hungarian permanent representation did not respond to a request for comment.

The European Commission redirected POLITICO to a comment made by spokesperson Balazs Ujvari when the executive announced the closure of the probe back in April: “The Commission has concluded that no serious security breach could be identified in relation to the allegations appearing in the media.”