"It sends a frightening message not only to journalists in Brussels but also to our sources," says Dafydd ab Iago of the correspondents' organization IPA to the news site Politico Europe.
According to the news site Euractiv, the conversation between a person at Politico and a close associate of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen did not contain anything secret or controversial.
Nevertheless, it was posted anonymously on YouTube and was quickly picked up by pro-government news sites in Hungary, which raised suspicions that they had been tipped off in advance.
Neither Politico nor the Commission has reportedly found any traces of wiretapping programs on the phones. According to Euractiv, the case is now being investigated by Belgian security services.
