The European People's Party is blocking efforts to launch a parliamentary inquiry into allegations that Hungarian intelligence services ran a spy ring inside EU institutions in Brussels, arguing that an investigation would only serve Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's anti-Brussels narrative.
The EPP's opposition sets up a clash with progressive groups—the Greens, Socialists, and Renew Europe liberals—who are pushing for an inquiry committee to be established immediately following revelations that Hungarian agents posed as diplomats to recruit EU employees as informants between 2013 and 2018.
Why the EPP fears investigating spying allegations
The EPP's caution carries added irony given its own history with Orbán.
Orbán's Fidesz party was a longtime EPP member until March 2021, when Fidesz formally left the grouping after years of growing tensions over democratic backsliding in Hungary.
The EPP had suspended Fidesz's membership in 2019 but avoided outright expulsion, allowing Orbán to exit on his own terms before facing formal removal.
This creates an unusual situation where the largest political group in the European Parliament is effectively opposing accountability measures against a government accused of espionage—because holding that government accountable might strengthen its domestic political position.
The conservative bloc's stance reflects a political calculation, that a formal parliamentary probe would hand Orbán ammunition for his long-running campaign portraying Brussels as hostile to Hungary. The EPP apparently believes that keeping the investigation within the European Commission's administrative process limits Orbán's ability to turn the scandal into political theater.
The spy scandal that triggered the political standoff
The controversy erupted in October after investigative reports by Belgium's De Tijd, Hungary's Direkt36, Germany's Der Spiegel, and Austria's Der Standard revealed how Hungarian intelligence officers worked undercover at Hungary's EU mission in Brussels. The agents allegedly attempted to recruit Hungarian staff at the European Commission as informants.
The operation reportedly ran with the knowledge of the then-ambassador, Olivér Várhelyi, who now serves as the European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. Várhelyi denies any knowledge of espionage activities.
Key details from the investigation:
- Intelligence officers posed as diplomats at Hungary's Permanent Representation to the EU
- The spy network operated between 2013 and 2018, targeting EU employees
- Olivér Várhelyi led the mission from 2015 to 2019 during part of this period
- Multiple sources confirmed the operation, including insiders from Hungarian intelligence
The European Commission launched its own administrative probe after the reports emerged, but Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has declined to suspend Várhelyi pending the investigation.
Parliamentary powers and political calculations
The European Parliament cannot remove individual commissioners—only pass a motion of censure requiring the entire Commission to resign with a two-thirds majority. This nuclear option makes progressive groups' push for a parliamentary inquiry more about political pressure and public accountability than immediate action.
The progressives see the inquiry as essential for documenting the full extent of Hungarian intelligence operations inside EU institutions and forcing transparency about security breaches. The EPP's blocking position suggests the conservative grouping is more concerned about managing political optics than investigating espionage.
Hungary has repeatedly aided authoritarian regimes or become entangled in scandals under Orbán's leadership, including extraditing Russian arms smugglers to Moscow instead of the US and helping smuggle North Macedonia's former premier across European borders to avoid corruption charges.
Without EPP support, progressive groups cannot muster the votes needed to establish the inquiry committee. The investigation remains in the European Commission's hands, where von der Leyen walks a political tightrope—she cannot appear to protect Várhelyi without risking another no-confidence motion, yet she also cannot afford to alienate the EPP support that saved her in two recent confidence votes.
