Párbeszéd Slams Gov’t for Staying in International Investment Bank

MTI-Hungary Today 2022.03.04.

The opposition Párbeszéd party on Thursday slammed the government for “acting as a vassal to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”, saying that Hungary continued to be a member of the International Investment Bank (IIB), even as five European states were leaving the institution.

Bence Tordai, the deputy head of the party’s parliamentary group, said that Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland have announced they are quitting the formerly Moscow-based IIB, which Tordai called “the spy bank”.

Opposition Protest at "Spy Bank" IIB: "Russians! Home!"

The opposition alliance's candidate for prime minister, Péter Márki-Zay, called PM Orbán a "mercenary and servant" of Russian President Putin and said he was partly to blame for the situation in Ukraine.Continue reading

Tordai accused Orban of “not wanting to sign the exit declaration which calls Putin’s war senseless and unjustifiable aggression against a sovereign state.”

Fact

Responding to questions about the Russian-backed International Investment Bank (IIB), which was hit by EU sanctions and lost five EU member states as its clients this week, PMO Head Gergely Gulyás said at his regular press briefing on Thursday that Hungary would remain in the institution as the bank backed Hungarian investments. At the same time, the IIB’s liquidity may be at risk if its other EU members follow suit, he said.

The lawmaker said Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó “lied” when he said the closure of the Hungarian and Austrian branches of the Russian-owned Sberbank was the consequence of “Brussels’ sanctions policy”. Noting that Prime Minister Viktor Orban also voted in favour of the measure in the EU, Tordai said the policy was a consequence of “Vladimir Putin’s aggression”.

EP Approves Resolution to Cut Ties with Rosatom and "Russian-Controlled" IIB

A controversy has erupted in Hungary over whether or not Fidesz politicians voted in favor of the EP resolution.Continue reading

Tordai also lambasted the government’s “outrageous foreign policy” which had accommodated “the Hungarian energy supply system’s exposure to Russia”. He insisted that it also increased the risks Hungary was facing as “the weakest link in NATO”.

“Fidesz’s incredibly weak economic policy”, Tordai insisted, had led to a historic low of the forint and skyrocketing inflation. Meanwhile, central bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy and the government had failed to take steps to introduce the euro, he said.

Featured photo via Péter Márki-Zay’s Faceook page