The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said during a visit to the Czech Republic on Monday 19 July that it would be “completely unacceptable” if it were the case that the Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian government had spied on journalists, especially those that were critical of the government.
She was reacting to an investigation undertaken by a consortium of international media, which was published on 19 July under the name the ‘Pegasus’ project: it accused several governments, including the Hungarian government, of using spyware from the Israeli company NSO to monitor journalists, media owners and lawyers, under the pretence of combating threats to internal security.
“Member States are obliged to ensure national security and a full respect of human rights and privacy”, said Christian Wigand, the Commission spokesperson for Justice and Fundamental Rights. Since investigations into these practices remain “a national competence”, the Commission will in any case follow this “very closely”. “We will see if there is any follow-up at Commission level”, added the spokesperson.
“Pegasus is known to be particularly intrusive software because it can discreetly hoover up emails, contact lists, geographical locations, text messages, phone calls, documents and photographs” explained Le Monde newspaper. NSO claims that “its use should be reserved for the fight against terrorism and organised crime”, but the list of numbers under surveillance is a broader remit than just criminals.
The European Commission spokesperson said that the situation regarding the press in Hungary and other Member States would feature prominently in the new annual report on the Rule of law that is due on 20 July. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)