The chairman of the European Parliament’s PEGA Committee of inquiry on spyware and the PEGA rapporteurs, Jeroen Lenaers (EPP) and Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe), on Tuesday 21 February gave a damning assessment of their visit to Hungary, saying that the situation in the country is “one of the worst in the EU” in terms of remedies and protection of individuals who were spied upon.
The two officials, together with eight elected representatives, undertook a two-day mission to the country, during which they met, among others, the leaders of the National Security Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly, the President of the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, representatives of opposition parties, journalists and representatives of NGOs.
However, they did not meet with the government, which “refused an open dialogue”, nor with Justice Minister Judit Varga, who “attacked us with conspiracy theories”, said the Dutchman.
In any case, the mission did not allow the elected representatives to learn more about the reasons why citizens, such as journalists, had been spied upon through the Pegasus software, and the very broad explanations referring to national security did not convince them. These wiretaps and the government’s wider political control over the Hungarian media “are a serious breach of the rule of law”, said PEGA’s chairman, calling on the Hungarian government to establish legal remedies for citizens targeted by the wiretaps, notify the targets of surveillance and specify the types of crimes that justify the surveillance.
The two MEPs felt that the use of spyware further justifies the need for an “independent and impartial judicial system”. They also deplored the fact that the National Security Committee of the Hungarian Parliament was unable to investigate the use of Pegasus due to the lack of a sufficient majority.
The PEGA Committee’s report will be finalised in April. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)