Next Friday Budapest Airport may get a new owner: everything will change?
The government has to conclude the business, but there is not enough money. How will Orbán get the needed sum?
Buying up Hungary’s main airgate, the Budapest Airport, is one of the most important goals of the fifth Orbán government. Before the elections, we received only gossip and guesses about how the deal will be closed. Now we know more.
Currently, Canadian and German firms own the shares of the Budapest Airport, so we can say that it is in foreign hands. After the deal, 51% of the shares will be in the ownership of the Hungarian state, while another 49% will be in the hands of Vinci Airports. The latter is the world’s nr 1 airport manager, operating 65 airports in 13 countries. We can say they have the know-how. That is probably why they will get the management rights. As a result, Budapest Airport’s operation will no longer be in the hands of a German but a French company, telex.hu wrote.
We wrote HERE why and how the Orbán cabinet would like to create a much more friendly relationship with the French. Apart from the fact that they would like to cooperate with Macron against the so-called American “conquest” of the EU, the Hungarian prime minister counts on his French partner to defend Hungary’s (the government’s) interests in the European Union, even against the European Commission. For example, they would like the French to help Hungary get the euro billions Brussels froze due to rule of law concerns. Probably that is why Hungary sent military and other help to Chad in Africa. In return, that is why Marcon said Orbán’s meeting with Putin in Beijing might become fruitful for the Western alliance.
A clear sign of the weakening German ties is that Construction and Development Minister János Lázár talked about sending home German and Austrian companies because the government would like to see Hungarians flourishing in the construction and building material sector.
Budapest Airport costs way too much: money collection started
We wrote before that the French might partner with the Hungarian government to buy the Budapest Airport. However, the business is not easy for Budapest because the state treasury is empty.
Therefore, the government sold its shares in two Hungarian insurer companies (Alfa and Union) for an estimated sum of EUR 480 million. One of the pressing questions is whether that money will flow into the budget by next Friday.
But that is not enough. We do not know how much Budapest Airport will cost. Sources talk about EUR 3 billion. That means the above-mentioned EUR 480 million is just 1/3rd of the needed money.
The rest may come from the government’s Eurobonds and allegedly a French loan. That would be the third big foreign loan after the Chinese for the Belrade-Budapest railway and the Russian for the Paks NPP expansion.
The question is whether Orbán can get enough money in time. We will know more by next Friday when the deal will probably be announced. Whether Budapest Airport will be better or worse after the French take its management is something for the future.
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