The This Monday, the European Commission asked the Government of Hungary for explanations due to the “worrying” information that suggests that his Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjarto, had shared with Russia the content of closed-door debates at meetings of EU ministers, without for now the Community Executive going to make any decision.
“The news that the Hungarian Foreign Minister He allegedly revealed to his Russian counterpart the content of a ministerial discussion behind closed doors in the Council are deeply worrying,” European Commission deputy spokesperson Arianna Podestà said in a press conference.
According to the vision of the Community Executive, a relationship of trust between the Member States and between them and the institution “it is fundamental” for the functioning of the EUso he hopes that the “Hungarian Government will provide corresponding clarifications.”
“As I said, For now we are waiting for these clarifications, and at this point we find ourselves (…). So first we need to establish the facts and receive those clarifications,” the spokesperson responded when asked if the Commission considers adopting some type of measure against Hungary or to avoid new leaks to the Kremlin.
Brussels reacts in this way to what was published by the American newspaper The Washington Post in that, according to diplomatic sources cited by the media, The Hungarian Government has been leaking confidential information to the Kremlin for years about what was discussed in the meetings of European ministers that are regularly held on the 27th within the framework of the Council of the EU.
The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, was one of the first to react to what was published and, in a message spread on social networks on Sunday, He stated that it is something they have been suspecting for “a long time” among EU leaders and that, for this reason, he himself avoids speaking at summits beyond what is “strictly necessary” to say “what is fair and necessary.”
“Regular” calls during breaks in meetings of the 27
“The news that (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orbán’s people brief Moscow on every detail of the EU Council meetings “shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Tusk said.who was also president of the European Council between 2014 and 2019.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, responded to this, who also took to social media. to label the accusations as “false information” and accuse Warsaw of wanting to support the opposition party Tisza with their messages to have a “pro-war puppet government” in Hungary.
According to what was published by the American media, the head of Hungarian diplomacy makes calls “regularly” during breaks in ministerial meetings of the 27 to convey to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, “direct information about what was discussed” in Brussels and coordinate possible responses.
