20/10/2025
On 20 October 2025, The Good Lobby Profs – a network of over sixty academics from more than thirty countries – sent two open letters to the President of the European Commission and to the European Parliament’s relevant committees.
The letters raise serious concerns over recent allegations that Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi was involved in espionage operations targeting EU institutions during his time at Hungary’s Permanent Representation to the EU. While the Commissioner denies the claims, they have been confirmed by a former Hungarian intelligence chief. The investigation was conducted by the Hungarian journalistic collective Direkt36, in cooperation with several newspapers, including the German Der Spiegel, the Austrian Der Standard, and the Belgian De Tijd.
The Good Lobby Profs call on President von der Leyen to
- request Oliver Várhelyi to resign under Article 17(6) TEU;
- failing to so, to explain publicly why she doesn’t do so despite having manifestly lost confidence;
- refer Varhelyi to the Court of Justice under Articles 245 and 247 TFEU to seek mandatory resignation and related sanctions;
- not to fill his vacancy as foreseen under Article 246 TFEU;
These steps, the Profs emphasise, are essential to safeguard the Commission’s integrity and uphold public trust in the EU’s institutions.
Complete legal analysis.
Read the full documents:
Further action: joint call for a parliamentary inquiry
The Good Lobby, together with Transparency International EU, Corporate Europe Observatory, and LobbyControl, has also sent a joint letter to the Presidents of the European Parliament’s political groups, urging them to take these allegations into consideration and to set up a committee of inquiry under Rule 215 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.