BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will set up an internal group to examine allegations that Hungary has been spying on European institutions, a spokesperson for the European Commission said on Thursday.
The allegations were made following a joint investigation by Hungarian non-profit investigative journalism group Direkt 36 and newspapers including Belgium’s De Tijd and German magazine Der Spiegel.
“The Commission is taking note of all the reporting today according to which there have been espionage operations pursued by a Hungarian intelligence service against the EU and members of its staff. The Commission takes such allegations very seriously,” a Commission spokesperson said.
“We will be setting up an internal group to look into these allegations.”
A spokesperson for Hungary’s permanent representation to the EU in Brussels did not have an immediate comment, but referred Reuters to remarks made by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to Hungarian news site Index.
Szijjarto told Index he had no knowledge of such a case as uncovered by Direkt36 and in his opinion, there was no basis for the claim.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Julia Payne; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Sharon Singleton)
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