DK proposes EP Pegasus committee visit to Hungary

According to press reports quoting a leaked document last July, the spyware was found on the devices of some 300 Hungarian opposition politicians, journalists and activists, DK MEP Sandor Ronai said on Thursday.

Ronai accused the government of “contradicting themselves” regarding the use of the software, which was sold by an Israeli company to government agencies. The committee has an obligation to hear “the government member primarily responsible for the Pegasus scandal” in Hungary, Justice Minister Judit Varga, and to “compel her to speak the truth,” he said.

Ronai, who acts as the first vice president of the Pegasus committee, said that Varga’s “close colleagues signed off on illegal wiretapping … and the minister has been unable to give a clear explanation for months.”

The committee is tasked with preparing European Union legislation to stop member state governments from “wiretapping people based on whim,” he said.