The contents of this website are no longer being updated. You can access all the latest Hungarian news in English formerly featured on the Hungary Matters website and daily newsletters at our refurbished mti.hu portal.

The must-have newsletter about Hungary

JOBBIK LEADER ASKS INTEGRITY AUTHORITY REVIEW ON SPAR ALLEGATIONS

 

Opposition Jobbik-Conservatives are turning to the Integrity Authority with a request that it examine whether a criminal act was committed in connection with allegations concerning Austrian supermarket chain Spar. Spar’s head told media outlets that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had tried to convince Spar to sell a minority stake to one of his relatives, Márton Gyöngyösi, the party’s leader, told a press conference on Friday, adding that when the Hungarian government introduced a special tax on various foreign subsidiaries, it was a form of “blackmail” aimed at getting the companies to sell business stakes to friends or family members of the prime minister or other government members. Gyöngyösi suggested that this was the reason why Spar had submitted a complaint to the European Commission and the EU budget committee. He also suggested that this could be the reason why an EU country report said last year that the government regularly harassed foreign investors in Hungary.