Former Communist state agent appointed to head Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection Research Institute?

Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection Office has set up a new Sovereignty Protection Research Institute. A Hungarian media outlet wrote that the director of the new institute is a former III/III agent.

Tamás Lánczi, the office’s head, has appointed retired Major General József Horváth to head the institute, the office said in a statement on Tuesday. Mr Horváth graduated in 1985 as a History, Hungarian Literature and Language teacher. He started to work for the Ministry of Internal Affairs after submitting his application to a job advertisement he read in a newspaper. Allegedly, he did not know the scheme was an experiment of the Communist state leadership to recruit new agents.

He worked for the ministry between 1986 and 1989 as a III/III agent. His task was to gather information against so-called Trotskyists, fake leftists, and former or active Communist party members. He continued his work after the Fall of Communism and became the deputy director of the National Security Service, 444.hu wrote.

Mr József Horváth:

The office needs to help preserving Hungary’s sovereignty

The research institute has been founded with the aim of compiling scientific analyses to assist the work of the office in identifying acts and attempted influence operations that threaten Hungary’s sovereignty.

“The Sovereignty Protection Office is tasked with ensuring that Hungary preserves its sovereignty, averts foreign interference attempts, identifies persons aiming to divert public discourse and using the public sphere to enforce their own interests,” it said.

It noted that Horváth had served in senior positions at national and military security offices between 1998 and 2013.

Justice minister: EU legislation ‘overgrown, brings lack of transparency’

The European Union’s legislation is “overgrown and results in a lack of transparency at the end of the day”, Justice Minister Bence Tuzson said in Bratislava on Tuesday, at the legal forum organised at the Comenius University.

Tuzson spoke at a panel discussion with the justice ministers of the Visegrád Group — Czechia, Poland and Slovakia — discussing the future of European legislation, legal competitiveness and legislative cooperation of the Visegrád Group.