Why so quick? Viktor Orbán issued a new decree last night
The Government has amended its previous decree on the procedure for the preparation of a State guarantee and the redemption of the guarantee. The new regulation entered into force at 11.00 PM on Tuesday.
The new rule, published in the Hungarian Official Gazette and signed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, entered into force at 11.00 PM last night.
The new rules
When preparing and redeeming a State guarantee, some of the rules of the original regulation do not apply if the individual State guarantee is given in relation to the provision of energy supply in Hungary.
When the individual State guarantee is called, the Minister responsible for public finances acts
in accordance with the terms of the guarantee contract, 24.hu reports. They shall, on the basis of the information received from the debtor, communicate the data relating to the State guarantee by electronic means by the 20th day of the month following the calendar quarter to the Hungarian State Treasury (Magyar Államkincstár).
Which rules are exempted by the Regulation?
According to the original regulation, the government’s decisions on the authorisation of individual state guarantees and individual counter-guarantees must be published in the Hungarian Gazette with all relevant terms and conditions.
This does not apply now, nor do the paragraphs which, for example, governed the rules on tendering for the contract on which the state guarantee is based. The paragraphs which required the Centre for Public Debt Management to give a prior opinion on the financial terms of the contracts underpinning the State guarantee are not applicable either. The case is the same with paragraphs which clarified the information obligation for the eligible international development institution or foreign-based credit institution in the case of a contract on which a State guarantee is based.
Source: 24.hu, Magyar Közlöny
Anyone recall the 2020 Chinese financing deal for the new high-speed railway between Budapest and Belgrade? Estimated 2 BN Euros plus. For some reason, the documents of this “advantageous” agreement are a “State Secret” for a period 10 years.
Transparency is clearly not our Politicans’ strong suite. “For further information, please check our Facebook page”
I’m not very conversant with the costs of upgrading railway lines, but I find c. 4.55 m. Euros per kilometre of track very expensive indeed, and I suspect that by the time it is actually completed, and running as a GENUINE express line, the real figure will exceed 6 m Euros. Is it any surprise the Government wants to keep the REAL DEAL a secret? Something’s rotten in “Denmark”.