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Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
@panyiszabolcs
Dec 9, 2020 • 13 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
Why is Germany brokering an EU budget deal that lets Hungary off the hook & makes virtually impossible to sanction Orban’s rule of law breaches?

German companies were actually instrumental in building Orban's system from which they benefit hugely. THREAD direkt36.hu/en/a-magyar-ne…
2/ I published my in-depth reporting on Germany's automotive industry and Hungary a few months ago.

One main takeaway is that “executives of several German carmakers (...) absolutely feel that the Hungarian government is in their pockets”, a German business source told.
3/ Whenever the German automotive industry needs some lobbying in Brussels, Viktor Orban is there to help them out.

"Orban defends the interests of German car manufacturers in the European Council”, a former senior Hungarian government official told. Image
4/ Orban managed to build a powerful propaganda machine partly because German companies like Axel Springer or Deutsche Telekom were willing to sell their media outlets.

Moreover, large German companies tend not to advertise in Hungarian outlets critical of Orban... Image
5/ Some figures:
-Orbán's gov’t hands out more state subsidies to German companies (€122m last year) than to Hungarians (€72m)
-Audi has received 4X as much support in proportion of jobs in Hungary as in Germany
-BMW is getting a total of €361m from Hungary for a new plant
6/ It’s not just about cars, but arms.

Last year, Angela Merkel actually praised how well Hungary is spending EU funds.

At the same time, the Orban government started a military spending spree & ordered tons of weapons from Germany.

More than the German army itself. Image
7/ Orban’s government uses German business interests as leverage in the debates over linking EU funds to rule of law criteria or Fidesz’s @EPP membership. Image
8/ Orban’s government is micromanaging its German relations with the help of some well-connected friends in the CDU who usually fly under the radar.

Like this guy with the weird mustache: Image
9/ But nobody has been more instrumental in the success of Viktor Orban’s German outreach than an old pair of friends, former Daimler AG manager Klaus Mangold and former EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger.

Both are well-connected in the CDU - and both are on Orban’s payroll. Image
10/ @AndrasSzab on Mangold’s Hungarian contracts: "The German car industry and the wider economic relations are so important for the Hungarian government that it has even contracted a special advisor for their facilitation. This person is Klaus Mangold” direkt36.hu/en/mr-oroszors…
11/ “Seit Jahrzehnten sind die Interessen deutscher Politiker:innen und die der ungarischen Regierung eng miteinander verknüpft, das zeigt diese Recherche unseres ungarischen Partnerprojekts @direkt36.”

German version of the article on @krautreporter: krautreporter.de/3528-wie-vikto…
12/ And here’s @Nieuwsuur’s take on German-Hungarian relations (by @saskiadekkers) where I’m talking about my investigation:
13/ Some interesting news only a few days after the EU budget/postponed rule of law conditionality deal: Daimler will invest more than €100m in its Mercedes-Benz plant in Hungary with the Orban government contributing €43m in state subsidies. europe.autonews.com/automakers/hun…

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More from @panyiszabolcs

Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
Apr 18
🔎🇪🇺 "WELCOME TO THE HOTEL ORBÁN, SUCH A COSTLY PLACE"

Our investigation reveals how Hungary’s 2024 EU presidency tried to steer EU delegations to spend money at the Orbán family’s luxury hotel in Budapest.

Here’s Viktor Orbán’s daughter promoting Hotel Dorothea.

🧵Thread.👇
💰Orbán’s government pushed visiting delegations to stay at Hotel Dorothea, a luxury hotel owned by the prime minister’s son-in-law. For example, 🇫🇮 PM Petteri Orpo's delegation was redirected there by Hungarian organizers despite having booked elsewhere. vsquare.org/hungary-eu-pre…
Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law got €105.2M in loans via his BDPST Group from a bank part-owned by Orbán ally Lőrinc Mészáros—and the state. Part of it funded Hotel Dorothea, a 5-star luxury hotel in Budapest. And it wasn’t just Hungarian taxpayers who helped the Orbán family's hotel. Image
Read 9 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
Apr 14
💰Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz was spotted with a €600K Ferrari SF90 Spider in Marbella, per MP @hadhazyakos's findings. Tiborcz and Orbán’s daughter Ráhel lived there and likely still own undisclosed assets in Spain.

🧵A short thread on the Orbán family's luxury.👇 Image
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🤑Viktor Orbán’s family has grown insanely rich, with son-in-law István Tiborcz rising on Forbes’s list of Hungary’s wealthiest.

🎬“The Dynasty,” @direkt36’s documentary on the Orbán clan’s fortune, has 3.6M views in a country of 9.7M—enough to spook the gov't. Trailer here.👇
💰Orbán’s family is amassing luxury hotels and prime real estate in Budapest like collecting trophies—including the iconic Hotel Gellért, linked to Hungary’s famed Turkish bath.

Here’s an excerpt from @direkt36's “The Dynasty” on what Orbán’s son-in-law owns across the capital.
Read 10 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
Jan 17
💥🇪🇺 Hungary is in uncharted waters after Viktor Orbán's prosecutors raided the office of an EU Commission-backed anti-corruption authority yesterday—but the situation is more complex than it might seem. Let me explain.👇

On Thursday, Hungarian prosecutors raided the EU Commission-initiated Integrity Authority (IA) in Hungary, seizing documents related to the IA's investigations into EU fraud cases. IA head Ferenc Biró, suspected of corruption by prosecutors, revealed this at a press conference on Friday.

The IA was established under the rule of law conditionality mechanism launched by the first Von der Leyen Commission, pressuring Viktor Orbán’s government to create an anti-corruption body to oversee EU fund spending after years of corruption allegations. Orbán agreed to establish the IA solely because it was a prerequisite for unblocking billions in EU funds frozen under the conditionality mechanism. However, the IA lacks real powers to prosecute, conduct searches, or act independently, as it is embedded within the Orbán-controlled Hungarian state apparatus.

To illustrate: relying on the IA is akin to the police asking thieves to establish an anti-theft unit overseen by the thieves themselves. One example: IA's staffing process requires national security screening by agencies under Orbán’s chief of staff, Antal Rogán—who is under US Global Magnitsky sanctions for corruption, making this oversight deeply flawed. (Instead, the Commission should have demanded that Hungary join the EU Prosecutor's Office, sought ways to strengthen the powers of the EU anti-fraud office (OLAF), or—most effectively—pushed for a reform of the Hungarian prosecutor's office, ensuring through robust guarantees that it is not led by an infamous Orbán ally who routinely shuts down corruption cases involving the Prime Minister's family and associates.)

Yesterday, Hungarian prosecutors raided the IA's office and the home of Ferenc Biró, charging him and his wife with corruption and abuse of office. Allegations include misusing company funds, such as renting a luxury car for his wife. There is a possibility that the case against Biró is legitimate; however, it may simply be exploited for political purposes to obstruct IA investigations and gain access to the evidence they have gathered. Meanwhile, Biró denies the charges but has refused to testify. Notably, he hinted that the raid came shortly after his office began probing public contracts tied to government communications and advertising spending benefiting one of Rogán’s associates.

He claims prosecutors seized thousands of pages of documents, including some related to the IA's ongoing EU fraud investigations, without informing the IA about the specific materials being taken. Biró also alleges that prosecutors aim to use this case to establish a legal method allowing "a wider circle" to access the IA's confidential anti-corruption proceedings. At the same time, Biró was only hinting and alleging these, without making concrete claims.

The story appears complex, and while we lack many details, these corruption allegations have been circulating for months. Ferenc Biró was selected as the head of the IA through a process overseen by state bodies and appointed by László Windisch, head of the National Audit Office—and the current boyfriend of Judit Varga, Orbán's former justice minister and a withdrawn candidate to lead Fidesz's 2022 European Parliament list. (Just another example of how seemingly independent institutions, such as the National Audit Office tasked with overseeing public money spending, is captured by loyalists.)

However, the fundamental issue with the Integrity Authority, initiated by the European Commission, is that it serves merely as a fig leaf, allowing the Hungarian government to pretend it is addressing corruption while continuing its corrupt practices. Moreover, it misleads foreign partners into believing there is genuine progress. As this example illustrates, the individuals placed in charge of the IA can easily be compromised and pressured. Hungarian government-controlled law enforcement and intelligence agencies could monitor their investigations into EU fund misuse through surveillance or raids whenever they choose.

Finally, let me remind everyone that this is not the first instance of Hungarian authorities interfering with EU-backed bodies investigating the misuse of EU funds in Hungary. Just a few weeks ago, we revealed how Hungarian foreign intelligence routinely spies on EU institutions and officials. One concrete example involved the surveillance of OLAF investigators while they were probing EU fraud linked to a company owned by Viktor Orbán's son-in-law.

The European Parliament is scheduled to debate Hungarian espionage against OLAF next week—well, I believe the raid on the Integrity Authority should now also be part of that discussion.Image
Here's our @direkt36 story on Hungarian intelligence spying on OLAF investigators probing Viktor Orbán's son-in-law's company (we cooperated with @tijd's @ZaakJustitie). direkt36.hu/en/english-eu-…
Here's a Hungarian news report by @444hu on Integrity Authority head Ferenc Biró's press conference. 444.hu/2025/01/17/bir…
Read 4 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
Jan 14
‼️🇭🇺🇬🇪 Details are still emerging about how Viktor Orbán's government meddled in Georgia's election. His campaign strategists aided the ruling party, while underlings, like MEP András László from Orbán's party, served as fake election observers to whitewash the stolen vote. 1/5
Viktor Orbán called the fraudulent Georgian election in October 2024 for the ruling Georgian Dream party before the official results were even announced, then quickly traveled to Tbilisi to legitimize the regime’s so-called “victory” in a cynical way. 2/5
Orbán's spin doctor, Árpád Habony, and his team have aided the pro-Kremlin GD regime for over two years, frequently spotted at the Sheraton near GD's HQ. Habony reportedly also worked on boosting GD's image in Trump’s circles, per @tavisupleba and I. 3/5 vsquare.org/goulash-us-glo…
Read 5 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
Jan 7
🇺🇸⚖️US Ambassador explains why Orbán’s top minister, Antal Rogán, was hit with Global Magnitsky sanctions for corruption. Rogán created Hungary’s corrupt golden visa scheme, granting poorly vetted Schengen visas mostly to Chinese, Russians, Iranians... 1/7
In 2016, I spent six months investigating Rogán and his fixer/stooge, exposing their roles in corrupt schemes like Hungary’s golden visa program, shady deals in Georgia with an ex-PM, or a planned project with Rosatom. Full story in Hungarian.👇 2/7
index.hu/belfold/2016/1…
US-sanctioned Antal Rogán’s golden visa scheme granted residency permits, Schengen visas to 1,200 Russians, including a mobster, SVR chief Sergey Naryshkin's son, his family, and other Putin regime members, @direkt36 revealed. And who profited from it? 3/7 direkt36.hu/en/putyin-gepe…
Read 8 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
Jan 7
💥🇺🇸Bombshell: US Global Magnitsky sanctions target Antal Rogán, PM Orbán's right-hand man and head of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office.

Rogán's portfolio includes overseeing Hungary's pro-Kremlin propaganda apparatus and civilian intelligence services.

This is huge.

1/3 Image
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Rumors of sanctions against Rogán and his associates have circulated for some time yet. After Orbán, he’s the most reported figure in Hungary’s independent media when it comes to corruption scandals. Here’s Rogán’s designation. 2/3
ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions…
It’s hard to pick the worst scandal tied to Viktor Orbán’s propaganda minister, Antal Rogán, now under US Magnitsky sanctions. Here’s our @direkt36 story on how his close friend sold residency permits & provided an address to Russia's spy chief’s son. 3/3 direkt36.hu/en/az-orosz-ke…
Read 4 tweets

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