An Advisory Committee has been established in the country to assist in the review of classified documents.
The new government of Hungary plans to declassify the archives of the secret services from the communist era as part of the efforts of the recently elected Prime Minister Péter Madár to help the country come to terms with its past. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing a bill submitted to the government 37 years after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
"Unlike its former allies in the Soviet bloc, Hungary has not published the files of informants after the transition to democracy," the publication notes.
The bill T/274 "On Amendments to Act III of 2003 on the Disclosure of the Activities of the Secret Services of the Previous Regime and the Establishment of the Historical Archive of the State Security Service," as ASTRA found out, was submitted on Tuesday, June 23. Its author is a member of the Committee on Justice and Constitutional Affairs, representative of the TISZA party, lawyer Márton Mellethei-Barna.
The law, in effect since 2003, regulates access to documents of the former secret services of communist Hungary (1944–1990), including the political police (ÁVH and its successors), intelligence, and counterintelligence, as well as operational and agent files.
"A complete review of archival materials of party-state origin, held by national security services, is necessary," states the explanatory note to the bill. "This amendment to the law creates an Advisory Committee to assist in the review of classified documents, which helps with specific proposals in the declassification process and informs the public about it. The committee operates exclusively in cases where the national security service has decided to maintain the classified status of the documents after review."
The committee will consist of 11 members. All members will be appointed by the government for an indefinite term. The chair and 4 members, who have experience in national security or serve in relevant structures, are appointed jointly by the ministers responsible for managing national security services, civil intelligence, and defense.
6 experts (historians, archivists, or lawyers with experience in information law and protection of classified data) are appointed at the suggestion of the Minister of Culture. Committee members work pro bono but are entitled to reimbursement for expenses related to their work.
The committee will operate on the premises of national security services or in archive storage locations. Its meetings will be closed.
"National security services are required to provide the Committee with a complete list of documents for which the classified status has been maintained after review. The Committee may propose the immediate declassification of documents if it does not consider the maintenance of secrecy justified. Documents that have been declassified must be immediately transferred to the archive," the authors clarify.
One of the amendments extends the period for the creation of the documents under review. In the previous version, the date after which the documents adopted were not subject to the law was February 14, 1990 (the moment marking the end of the transition from communist state security to new democratic secret services). The new time limit is January 1, 2020.
Immediately after the victory of the TISZA party in the parliamentary elections in April 2026, Balint Ruff, who became the head of Prime Minister Péter Madár's office, told the media that opening the secret police archives would be his "number one task."
"This is a task for historians, but I will ensure that the next government creates a framework for this, that is, provides the opportunity for research without political pressure," the agency Reuters quoted the lawyer's words.
