"A bit of campaigning, a bit of this, a bit of that," was the way Bálint Magyar, the education minister, described the day, shortly before the European elections, on which he supposedly had a now notorious telephone conversation. A transcript of the conversation has recently been published in the Romanian daily Cotidianul. It purports to transcribe a conversation between the minister and an individual codenamed Lorin. The paper cited security sources as claiming that Lorin was none other than Ildikó Szatmári, a Hungarian from Transylvania, who worked in the Education Ministry and the Hungarians Abroad Office (HTMH) before being forced to resign - according to press reports - when it was discovered that she and her husband were working for Romanian intelligence.

Cotidianul received the transcript, supposedly created by the security services, in an anonymous e-mail. The document may be a forgery, but if it was, its author was familiar with secret service practices. András Tóth, the political state secretary in charge of the civilian secret service has ordered an investigation into whether any official secrets have been broken in the affair.

The couple, who were familiar figures in senior political circles in Hungary and Transylvania, deny all allegations, and no criminal charges have been brought against them. It would seem the the National Security Office (NBH) concluded that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against them, but that the case against them was strong enough for them to be removed from public administration. A plan drawn up to 'isolate' the Szatmáris was derailed by the Magyar Nemzet's revelation of the spy story last week. The couple currently lives in a village in Pest county.