“Even though the investigations have not yet been fully completed, I can assure you that the Commission will raise its concerns with the Hungarian government at all levels,” he said.
But he stopped short of sharing details of the Commission’s broader investigation, saying confidentiality is needed to “ensure the integrity of the investigation.”
Some lawmakers had argued in the plenary’s debate on the scandal that the Commission should suspend Hungary’s commissioner, Oliver Várhelyi, who has the health portfolio.
Várhelyi has drawn scrutiny because he was Hungary’s ambassador to the EU for part of the time the spy network was alleged to have operated from the embassy.
There is no suggestion that Várhelyi was involved in any alleged espionage, and he has told Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that he was “not aware” of supposed efforts by Orbán’s government to recruit spies in Brussels, according to a Commission spokesperson.
But Sophie Wilmès, an MEP from the centrist Renew group, said the EU executive should have suspended the commissioner “at least [while] waiting to shed some light on the matter.”