Hungarian election candidate accuses ruling party of treason over alleged EU leak to Russia

Péter Magyar, who leads in polls, says Orbán government is ‘betraying Hungarian and European interests’

Europe live – latest updates

The candidate leading the polls in Hungary’s upcoming elections has said the alleged sharing of confidential EU information between Budapest and Moscow should be investigated as possible treason, while the European Commission has called for “clarifications” over the alleged leaks.

Péter Magyar, a conservative anti-corruption campaigner who is mounting the most serious challenge to Viktor Orbán’s 16-year-long grip on the Hungarian premiership, said the government appeared to be colluding with Russia, “thereby betraying Hungarian and European interests”.

A report in the Washington Post last week said Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, routinely updated his Russian counterpart with the details of confidential EU meetings. Magyar wrote on X on Monday: “If confirmed, this would amount to treason, which carries a potential life sentence. A future Tisza government will immediately investigate the matter.”