Hungarian Nat Security CTTEE Concludes Meeting On Századvég Case With Conflict Of Opinion

  • 12 Nov 2015 8:00 AM
Hungarian Nat Security CTTEE Concludes Meeting On Századvég Case With Conflict Of Opinion
Parliament’s national security committee concluded a discussion about the case of Századvég, a think tank accused of handling state secrets, with a conflict in the opinions of party representatives. The case was put on the committee’s agenda by its chairman, Socialist lawmaker Zsolt Molnár, last week. Molnár then said that the committee sought a briefing concerning who among the think tank’s staff had access to which official documents and on what basis.

The Hungarian Liberal Party earlier called for the committee to be convened to examine allegations that Századvég had seen classified state documents. In a written answer to a parliamentary question, the minister of the interior, Sándor Pintér, said staff of the Századvég School of Politics had not received certification to handle state secrets in the period before 2013.

The Századvég School of Politics Foundation firmly denied allegations which it called “malevolent lies” and insisted that reports that it had access to state classified documents are unfounded. After the national security committee’s meeting, its deputy head Szilárd Németh, of ruling Fidesz, told a press conference that no information or data have surfaced to suggest that Századvég’s operation could have either posed national security risk or circumvented any regulation.

Neither the interior ministry, nor the Constitution Protection Office has established a violation of any state secrets by Századvég, Németh insisted.

The whole issue has been nothing but an unfortunate left-liberal political attack, he said, adding that he considered the whole case closed.

Molnár, however, insisted that investigation into Századvég case must continue since the committee’s meeting has yielded only partial results. It must be clarified, if not in this platform then in another one, whether Századvég had or had not obtained access to classified documents between 2010 and 2013.

He said he will support independent lawmaker Gábor Fodor’s initiative for turning to the Constitutional Court over the case.

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