Armed Hungarian secret service agents take profitable foreign and Hungarian firms by force?
The European Union monitors how Hungary spends the allocations because of concerns about corruption and the rule of law. Therefore, the parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control paid an eighth visit to Hungary and revealed some shocking interviews with managers active in Hungary. They told the committee how armed Hungarian secret service agents appeared at their companies in an attempt to buy it. If they refuse to sell, all hell breaks loose.
Monika Hohlmeier, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, revealed information about that scheme in a press conference in Budapest. The EPP MEP said that what the managers concerned in such blackmailing issues told her reminded her of the Communist era. Among the most crucial problems, she mentioned the discrimination of some companies, law modifications made overnight and the “intimidating secret service investigations” against some companies. Their purpose is to “pave the way to a possible acquisition”. German ARD’s Tagesschau wrote more details about the delegation’s experiences in this regard on its website.
Managers of German, Austrian and French companies in Hungary revealed to the EP representatives how they are being pressured in Hungary to pass company shares to government-close oligarchs. They did not want to go public with that information because they were afraid of reprisal. Some managers told the committee how armed secret service agents had made a purchase offer. Doing so is a common practice in Hungary, provided you have a profitable company, they added.
Pressure and secret service agents everywhere
“Someone regularly shows up and asks if they could buy the company cheaply. If you reply that you want to continue operating here and are even thinking about expansion, more harassment follows. For example, they visit your family”, said the CSU (Christian Social Union) MEP.
Exerting pressure includes investigations and even exclusion from participating in EU support programs. The goal is to convince them to sell what the government-close oligarch wants. “If they continue to resist, more measures will be applied”, Hohlmeier noted. For example, if they go to court and there is a decision in favour of the company, the government modifies the law or introduces a new rule to make the firm lose money again. Finally, the loss will be too high, so they win.
According to the MEPs, it is a targeted strategy aiming to get control over companies in the financing, construction, retail, agriculture and telecommunications sectors. Up until now, the big (German) companies like Audi, Mercedes or BMW were not harmed. Instead, the government does everything to weaken trade unions. However, Hohlmeier believes that soon there will be no companies who can be sure they were untouchable. Tagesschau writes the government aims to take control over crucial economic sectors, and it uses even EU money for that. Interestingly, Hohlmeier is a member of the European People’s Party (EPP), Orbán’s former EU party family.
EUR 28 billion is at stake
The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control wants Hungary to fulfil 27 milestones, most concerning the rule of law and the independence of jurisdiction. Only then can Hungary receive the EUR 28 billion it is entitled to from Brussels. Tamás Deutsch, an MEP of Orbán’s Fidesz, said the committee arrived in Hungary only to increase pressure. He added that Brussels slammed Hungary only because of its strict children protection laws and its anti-migration policies.
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