In April 2024, a phone conversation between a Politico journalist and a close associate of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was posted online in full and cited by Hungarian pro-government media. Neither party found spyware on their phones. Tape recordings of sensitive calls between the Hungarian foreign minister and his Russian counterpart were also released, with unknown origin.
Dafydd ab Iago, chairman of the correspondents' organization API-IPA, called the wiretapping a chilling message to journalists and their sources. Historical bugging at EU institutions remains unresolved. In 2003, recording equipment was discovered in the Justus Lipsius building.
Brussels is one of the world's largest spy centers with hundreds of active intelligence agents targeting our institution.
A 2010 Belgian report stated that two suspects had been trained by a company with links to Mossad, according to the report. Committee member Peter de Smet said there was no hard evidence that Mossad carried out the operation, and that other possible countries included Russia, England, or the US. Russian espionage is a key concern.
The EU's foreign service warned in 2019 of at least 200 Russian spies in Brussels. Belgian counterintelligence suspects Russia's EU mission chief Kirill Logvinov of carrying out foreign intelligence functions, but the Commission has refused to expel him, according to reports. In 2022, 19 Russian diplomats were expelled, but the EU opted not to sanction all identified spies, sources say.
A chilling message not only to journalists working in Brussels, but also to our sources.
The EU itself is suspected of conducting intelligence-gathering to monitor internal dissent, according to some observers. Brussels hosts over 30,000 lobbyists, blurring lines between diplomacy and covert intelligence, reports indicate. The dismissal of EU transport official Henrik Hololei for accepting free flights from Qatar while negotiating an aviation deal was a rare penalty.
Transparency International's Shari Hinds said the termination was encouraging but long overdue.
It's almost three years to the day since revelations of Mr. Hololei's impropriety broke. Though long overdue, it is encouraging that the European Commission finally appears to be dealing out consequences proportionate to the gravity of these ethics violations.