Orbán’s government denies role in mega bank loan to Spanish far-right party

The Hungarian government late Monday denied having any role in major bank loans to Spain’s far-right Vox party.

Santiago Abascal’s party received loans from Hungary’s MBH Bank for €9.2 million to finance campaigns for the 2023 local and general elections, according to a Vox party official. 

The bank’s largest shareholder, with almost half of the shares, is Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s childhood friend and Hungary’s richest person Lőrinc Mészáros, but the Hungarian state is also a partner with a stake of about 30 percent. 

Opposition lawmaker Ágnes Vadai asked Orbán in a written question whether he had any role in the loan that Spain’s Vox received, but the question was answered by the prime minister’s State Secretary János Fónagy. 

“The possible loan by a commercial bank to Spain referred to in the question, as in any other case, could only have been decided on a purely business basis, in which the Hungarian government has no role and no information,” Fónagy replied. 

Vox previously denied knowledge of the bank’s ties to Orbán and said that the entire loan had already been repaid.

It wasn’t the first political loan from a Hungarian bank to fund the European right wing. Earlier, MBH’s predecessor MKB funded Marine Le Pen’s 2022 French presidential campaign with a €10.6 million loan. Le Pen’s party said that other banks were reluctant to “finance the democratic life” of France.

In July, Vox joined Orbán’s new far-right group in the European Parliament, the Patriots for Europe.

Vox’s move from the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to the new far-right Patriots formation raised eyebrows in Spain, as the party had already been granted a vice presidency in the ECR. Party leader Abascal had also previously clashed with other Patriots member parties that support Catalonia’s independence, such as the Italian League or the Flemish far-right nationalists of Vlaams Belang.