Orbán poll rival says alleged EU leaks to Russia by minister may be 'treason'

The candidate leading the polls in Hungary's forthcoming elections has said the alleged sharing of confidential EU information between Budapest and Moscow should be investigated as possible "treason", while the European Commission has called for "clarifications" over the alleged leaks.

- Jennifer Rankin Brussels Flora Garamvolgyi Budapest

Péter Magyar, a conservative anti-corruption campaigner, who is mounting the most serious challenge to Viktor Orbán's 16-year grip on the Hungarian premiership, said the government appeared to be colluding with Russia, "thereby betraying Hungarian and European interests".

A report in the Washington Post last week said Hungary's foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, routinely updated his Russian counterpart with the details of confidential EU meetings. "If confirmed, this would amount to treason, which carries a potential life sentence," Magyar wrote on X yesterday. "A future Tisza government will immediately investigate the matter."

Magyar, a former insider of the ruling Fidesz party, leads the rival Tisza party, which is ahead in the polls three weeks before the country votes on 12 April.

The European Commission has called on Hungary's government to provide clarity over the reported leaks. The commission's spokesperson, Anitta Hipper, said reports that Szijjártó had disclosed information from closed-door EU meetings to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, were "greatly concerning".