Orban says he rejected recruitment during communist era, former Hungarian PM claims he saw informant reports from him

Former Hungarian PM claims secret police tried to recruit him as in informer in the '80s

Former Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán claims Hungary’s communist-era secret services tried to recruit him as an informer during his military service, but he refused and was placed under surveillance. In a statement posted on Facebook, accompanied by secret service documents from the 1980s, the former PM said he, his wife and fellow opposition members had been subjected to state investigations. He also alleged that informers had been assigned to monitor them and that listening devices were planted in their workplaces, homes and even bedrooms. However, Vqsuare later reported that former Hungarian PM, Miklós Németh saw three handwritten informant reports attributed to Orban.

His comments came ahead of the launch of a public online database containing tens of thousands of files from Hungary’s communist-era state security services. The release is part of Magyar’s pledge to open the archives, which have been stored in a vast basement facility in Budapest, and allow the country to confront its totalitarian past. Although communist rule ended in 1989, the following governments had failed to make the records fully accessible, citing a lack of political will. Until now, Hungarian citizens could only request access to files concerning themselves or close relatives, while researchers had broader access. The new database will allow anyone to search the records, which include lists of informers and collaborators. About 55,000 secret collaborators were recorded in Hungary between 1956 and 1989.

US and Hungary sign agreement targeting far-left terrorism

Hungary’s foreign minister, Anita Orbán and her US counterpart, Marco Rubio, agreed to strengthen cooperation against violent far-left organisations, including through increased intelligence-sharing and law enforcement collaboration. The agreement was one of two signed during their meeting in Washington, alongside a memorandum on developing regional oil and gas infrastructure under the Trump Peace Pipelines Framework. Orbán initially announced the agreements in a social media post but gave few details about the law enforcement deal. Rubio later said it was intended to help prevent what he described as a resurgence of far-left terrorism, arguing that politically motivated violence and vandalism had become a problem on both sides of the Atlantic. He said these groups are targeting police forces, critical infrastructure and historical landmarks, and said some had organized themselves into international networks seeking to destabilize western societies. The US and Hungary would work together to track these cross-border networks and bring those responsible to justice, he said.

Orbán said the agreement would build on existing law enforcement cooperation by improving the exchange of information to help prevent, detect and prosecute violence by left-wing groups, naming Antifa Ost as an example. The meeting between the foreign ministers was held behind closed doors, with no press in attendance.

HIIA director dismissed after previous contracts with Orban-government revealed

Botond Feledy was dismissed as director of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA), after his contracts with the previous government were made public. State secretary György László Velkey announced the decision on Facebook late on Monday, saying the ministry had lost confidence in Feledy after learning of his links to the Orban administration. The announcement came hours after Telex reported that Feledy’s company, Red Snow, had held three contracts with the ministry of construction and transport, then led by János Lázár, between December 2023 and the change of government. The contracts, confirmed through a public records request, were worth a combined 84.2m forints (€230,780). Prime minister Péter Magyar said Feledy’s dismissal was a difficult but necessary decision, arguing that someone who had failed to disclose receiving such a sum in public money from the previous government could not hold a senior position under his administration. He also questioned why Lázár’s ministry had needed the analyses, which cost about 3m forints a month.

Magyar said there was nothing wrong with working professionally and transparently for the previous government, nor with having been a member of Fidesz, but argued that concealing the contracts during the recruitment process was compunacceptable. Feledy, meanwhile, said his work had involved writing analyses on international developments for clients, but never advised them on domestic politics. He maintained that clients had never influenced his views and said he would continue working to support Hungary’s democratic transition.

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