Julio García-Aquí Europa
The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has indirectly criticized the Spanish rules on party financing to justify the granting of a loan of nine million euros to his Spanish ally Vox by a Hungarian bank whose largest shareholder is, precisely, the Hungarian State.
During a press conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France), Orbán justified on Tuesday the granting of a loan of nine million euros to Vox by the Magyar Bank Holding – whose largest shareholder is Corvinus International Investment, an investment firm 100% controlled by the Hungarian State -, despite the fact that the Spanish law on party financing prohibits any financing “by governments and foreign bodies, entities or public companies or companies directly or indirectly related to them.”
Orbán, the leader of Patriots for Europe – the group in which Santiago Abascal’s party was integrated, abandoning Giorgia Meloni and her allies from the previous legislature – has framed the decision as a “business action” by Magyar Bank Holding.
In addition, Orbán suggested that Spanish banks did not grant financing to the far-right party, which was the justification expressed by Abascal’s leadership for requesting the loan in Hungary. “In some countries, certain parties cannot get loans,” said Orbán, who had previously distanced himself from the decision. “I would not like to get involved in such national discussions, but come on, what is this? Is it fair?”
