13/10/2025 (Agence Europe) – On Sunday 12 October, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met the European Commissioner for Health, Olivér Várhelyi, and asked him whether he had any knowledge of attempts to recruit European officials of Hungarian nationality for the purposes of espionage and influence by the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the European Union when Mr Várhelyi was head of the Permanent Representation (see EUROPE 13728/22). Mr Várhelyi “indicated that he was not aware of this”, said the Commission spokesperson, Paula Pinho. The Commission has set up a working group to investigate these allegations and report back to the European Commissioner for Public Administration, Piotr Serafin. It refused to give any further details about the people in the group or the timetable, citing security concerns. (MB)