Brussels, 06/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 6 July, the Hungarian parliament voted through a newly revised version of the central bank law, which should make it possible for the government to enter negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union for a loan of some €15 billion. The law was voted through by a wide majority (Fidesz, the Conservative party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has a two-thirds majority) by 283 to 30 with 3 abstentions. The amended law was unveiled by the government on 21 June and was given the go-ahead by the Commission, the IMF and the ECB after a battle with the Hungarian government. The EU institutions and IMF suspended financial aid talks with Budapest at the end of last year because of the controversial central bank law, which could have made the central bank dependent on politicians. Budapest needs the financial aid to access lower-interest loans on the bonds market.
In Brussels on Friday, a spokesperson for the European Commission, Olivier Bailly, said that the changed law incorporated the three institutions' requirements (the Commission has launched infringement proceedings against Budapest). Bailly said that the talks about the aid requested by the Orban government would soon kick off and a joint EU-IMF fact-finding mission would be arriving in Budapest on 17 July to pave the way for the talks. (SP/transl.fl)