Letter of Tamás Deutsch to Members of the European Parliament as regards the Tisza agent scandal

Tamás Deutsch, leader of the Fidesz-KDNP delegation in the European Parliament, informed his fellow MEPs in a letter on the Tisza agent scandal. The letter can be read here:

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to inform you of an extremely serious scandal.

It has come to light that Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Foreign Minister, was wiretapped by the intelligence service of at least one other country — with the active cooperation of a Hungarian journalist. Furthermore, this took place with the knowledge and in the interest of the opposition Tisza Party.

In a leaked audio recording, Szabolcs Panyi — who describes himself as an ‘independent investigative journalist’ — discusses his close ties with foreign intelligence agencies. He claims to have given them the phone number of the Hungarian foreign minister so that they could place Péter Szijjártó under surveillance. Szabolcs Panyi also released a verbatim transcript of the wiretap.

In the recording, Szabolcs Panyi also claims to have a close personal and professional relationship with Anita Orbán, the opposition Tisza Party’s nominee for Minister of Foreign Affairs. He states that, in the event of a change in government, he would have direct and decisive influence over who is hired and dismissed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Szabolcs Panyi was also the author of a fake news story claiming that Russian agents had arrived in Budapest to interfere in the election campaign. This fake news story appeared on a website funded by the European Union, the National Endowment for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund and previously, USAID.

The European Commission subsequently used this fake news as a pretext to announce that it would consult with social media companies regarding the election campaign. As we have seen in previous examples, this effectively means silencing conservative content and user accounts on these platforms.

This serious scandal clearly highlights that other countries, foreign intelligence services, media workers acting as political activists, NGOs, and the opposition Tisza Party are carrying out coordinated actions that constitute gross foreign interference in the Hungarian election campaign.

Details of the leaked audio recording is available here:

Sincerely,

Tamás Deutsch

Head of the Fidesz-KDNP delegation