Hungary: Secret service snoops into EU businesses
The EU Parliament has reached a damning verdict on Hungary: Deception, trickery, concealment is how it describes the Orban government. It states the EU is rightly withholding €50 billion in development funds.
Transcript
00:00 Irish budget carrier Ryanair has reduced flights to Hungary.
00:05 A special tax on seats was too much for the airline.
00:08 It increased flights to Vienna instead.
00:11 British mobile operator Vodafone has also given up on Hungary.
00:15 The telecoms firm sold its subsidiary in the country to an oligarch and the Hungarian government
00:20 after the latter implemented a special tax.
00:24 Increasingly, foreign firms are finding it harder to operate in some sectors.
00:30 And Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government are responsible, says the
00:35 parliamentary opposition.
00:40 So in many cases we already saw that oligarchs and friends of the Prime Minister and friends
00:46 of the government, they take over companies by force.
00:49 Either by taxing them and then just buying them for cheap because they can't stay on
00:56 the market or using other methods.
01:00 Monika Holmaja and other members of the European Parliament recently met with members of the
01:05 Hungarian government and also spoke with the opposition, managers and business representatives.
01:11 They got to hear how only foreign companies from Germany, Austria and France are targeted
01:15 with taxes in the construction industry.
01:18 A complex combination of taxes on production quantities, export restrictions and a mining
01:23 levy makes operating in Hungary unprofitable.
01:27 And Hungarian oligarchs take over operations at a discount once the firms decide to exit
01:32 the market.
01:37 These are very subtle, very intelligently chosen methods to drive companies to ruin
01:43 and to force them to sell for a song.
01:47 Mostly not Hungarian, but European companies from EU member states.
01:52 Or even Hungarian companies operated by people who aren't close to the government.
02:02 Holmaja says foreign supermarket chains are also subject to special taxes and duties.
02:08 According to her, the Orban administration sets prices, which manipulates the markets.
02:13 And laws are changed overnight.
02:17 And the companies have said that they were visited by intelligence, that they are overwhelmed
02:22 with hundreds of inspections, that they get completely absurd requirements.
02:27 And each time, when one looks at the background, one gets the impression that once again a
02:32 friendly oligarch benefits.
02:35 Not every sector is affected.
02:38 Large German auto plants in Hungary have been left alone.
02:41 None of the firms in the targeted sectors agreed to an interview.
02:45 And the Orban administration hasn't responded to our request about the allegations.
02:49 But the EU is taking action.
02:51 It is withholding 50 billion euros in funds for Hungary because of what it considers violations
02:56 to the rule of law and democratic norms.
02:59 The EU Commission and the European Parliament are demanding that all foreign companies receive
03:04 equal treatment in Hungary.
03:06 I hope that the Hungarian government is doing everything in their power to fulfill those
03:11 conditions as fast as possible.
03:14 Until that is not the case, then the money that is currently frozen should remain frozen.
03:23 But with the Orban administration unlikely to change course on its nationalist economic
03:27 policies any time soon, no end appears to be in sight for the row between Brussels and
03:32 Budapest.
03:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]