VSquare: Hungary acts as middleman for China’s EUR 500 million loan to Orbán’s Balkan allies

In July this year, Hungary announced a EUR 500 million loan to North Macedonia, a country now led by the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, which is closely aligned with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

According to VSquare, this deal may be linked to the EUR 1 billion loan that the Orbán government secured from China earlier in 2024. Several diplomatic sources informed the outlet that Hungary is essentially acting as a mediator for China, channelling Chinese funds to support North Macedonia.

The article cites a North Macedonian expert who noted that Hristijan Mickoski, leader of VMRO-DPMNE, had mentioned plans to secure a EUR 1 billion loan for strategic projects on the day of his election.

However, Mickoski quickly denied that the funds would come from Russia or China, instead claiming that a European country would provide the loan.

Photo: Facebook/Hristijan Mickoski

Despite this, rumors surfaced that the money would, in fact, originate from China, but would be funneled through Serbia or Hungary. Later, Mickoski revised the loan amount to EUR 500 million.

VSquare reports that Hungary’s involvement in this transaction has raised eyebrows, especially considering that the Orbán government is grappling with its own financial challenges.

“What makes the story even more mysterious is that, according to an internationally connected business source, Hungary originally hoped to secure a much bigger loan during Xi Jinping’s visit to Budapest as a substitute for the country’s frozen EU funds,” Szabolcs Panyi, writer of the article, concludes.

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