European Commission urges Hungary to urgently ‘explain itself’ after ‘extremely concerning’ leaked calls raise ‘alarming possibility of coordination with Russia’
The European Commission has demanded an urgent explanation from Hungary after another leaked phone call between foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, reignited concerns over Budapest’s relationship with the Kremlin (11:08).
In the recording, Szijjártó appeared to offer Lavrov to forward him an internal EU document related to Ukraine’s plans to join the European Union.
A commission spokesperson said the recording raised “the alarming possibility of a member state coordinating with Russia, thus actively working against the security and the interests of the EU.”
Asked about the disclosure, made by a central European consortium of media outlets, EU chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said:
“The alleged revelations in that additional piece of investigative journalism that you are referring to highlight the alarming possibility of a member state’s government coordinating with Russia, thus actively working against the security and the interests of the EU and all its citizens.
This is therefore extremely concerning, and it is for the member state’s government in question to explain itself as a matter of urgency, and the President [Ursula von der Leyen] will also raise the issue at leaders level.”
Key events
Is this the end of Viktor Orbán’s regime? – podcast
Flora Garamvolgyi
“Hungary has been a model for the Trump presidency for a while now,” the Guardian journalist Flora Garamvolgyi tells Helen Pidd after JD Vance’s visit to Budapest this week. “And US Republicans looked at Hungary for these past years as a model to follow.”
“[Viktor] Orbán is currently on his fourth consecutive term. And the fact that he has been so successful and he had similar narrative, similar ideologies to US Republicans in terms of immigration, for example, I think they have found a link to connect with Orbán and they were studying his success.”
But as polls suggest this election will be challenging for Orbán, will Hungarians decide his time is up?
Listen to our Today in Focus podcast:
But Hungary’s embattled prime minister Viktor Orbán rejected suggestions of close proximity to Russia, telling a rally that “it was not the Russians, but the US vice-president who visited Hungary” to endorse him this week.
In a clip from a recent rally, published by his international spokesperson, Zoltán Kovács, Orbán insisted that Hungary remains part of the west, but is “hurt by what we see is happening to western Europe.”
“It pains us that the German Christian Democrats, the CSU, have become a left-wing party to such an extent that it has become impossible to cooperate with them. Today our strongest anchor to the western world is not our sister parties in Germany, but the Republicans in the US, with whom we are cooperating,” he argued.
France accuses Hungary of ‘betrayal of solidarity’ after leaked recording of minister’s phone call with Russia
Meanwhile, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, accused Hungary of “betrayal of the solidarity required between countries of the European Union” after the latest revelations about his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó’s contacts with Russia.
In leaked recordings obtained by a consortium of investigative reporters, Szijjártó appeared to offer to send Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov a document about Ukraine’s EU accession.
“I will send it to you. It’s not a problem,” Szijjártó reportedly said, after Lavrov said that Moscow was trying to get a document about the role of minority languages in Ukraine’s EU accession talks.
“This is a betrayal of the solidarity required between the countries of the European Union,” Barrot told broadcaster France Inter.
“If we want to be strong in a world where new empires are rising, then we must be united and we must stand in solidarity,” he added.
On Wednesday, Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk also criticised Hungary, saying the recording was “really beyond shocking”.
Trump’s strong views on Nato and Greenland understandably carry extra weight in Denmark, where political parties are still locked in talks to form a new government after last month’s election.
The question of Greenland’s future is not going anywhere anytime soon, and our Nordic correspondent Miranda Bryant spoke recently to a Greenlandic pro-independence politician elected to the new Danish parliament.
Qarsoq Høegh-Dam is clear that if all goes to plan, the largely autonomous Arctic territory will be the sole responsibility of the parliament in Nuuk, the island’s capital. And there will no longer be any need for two seats representing Greenland in Copenhagen, its former colonial ruler.
Read Miranda’s piece here:
Morning opening: Trump lashes out against Nato after Rutte says president is ‘clearly disappointed’ with allies
Jakub Krupa
The US president, Donald Trump, has once again lashed out against Nato after a tense and lengthy meeting with the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, who admitted Trump was “clearly disappointed” with allies over their refusal to get involved in Iran.
In another angry ALL CAPS post on social media overnight, Trump said:
“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”
In reality, though, the only time Nato has ever triggered its collective defence clause in Article 5 was after 9/11 in the US, and the allies, in fact, were very much there when the US needed them.
It’s quite telling that despite repeatedly being told off for this very narrative by several European leaders, Trump keeps doubling down on this (factually incorrect) claim.
From Rutte’s comments to CNN last night, it’s clear that the meeting was very tense as he pointedly did not deny that Trump threatened to pull out of the alliance, as also suggested by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Ever a diplomat – although his critics often say he is positioning himself too close to Trump with his over-the-top praise for his impact on the alliance – Rutte said that the president was “clearly disappointed” and made that clear in a “very frank, very open” discussion between “two good friends”.
“He clearly told me what he thought of what happened over the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“But at the same time, I was also able to point him to the fact that the large majority of European nations has been helpful with basing, with logistics, with overflights, with making sure that they live up to the[ir] commitments,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported (£) overnight that “the White House is considering a plan to punish some members of the Nato alliance that President Trump thinks were unhelpful to the US and Israel during the Iran war.”
Rutte in effect declined to comment on this report, saying instead that “not all European nations lived up to those commitments, and I totally understand that he is disappointed” and repeatedly praising Trump’s broader leadership (going even as far as claiming that the world is safer now than before the Iran war.)
But he still insisted it was a “nuanced” picture and “a large majority of European countries, and that’s what we discussed today, have done what they promised” they would.
It remains to be seen if he actually convinced Trump at all. We will hear from Rutte again later today as he is due to deliver a speech in Washington late afternoon.
Elsewhere, I will bring you the latest updates from Hungary, just days before a key parliamentary vote on Sunday. As the US vice-president, JD Vance, left the country after his repeated endorsement of Viktor Orbán which is obviously very much not interfering with the election, not at all, the attention turns back to domestic campaign.
It’s Thursday, 9 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
