An MP for Hungary’s main opposition Fidesz party has charged that Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai took side with foreign investors and failed to represent Hungarian interests in his talks with the French prime minister on Monday.
Erik Banki said Bajnai was biased towards “foreign capital investors against the Hungarian people” when he offered help to the French operator of the waterworks of Pecs (S Hungary) in settling a dispute with the local council.
“Bajnai is either unaware of the facts or fails to represent the interests of the Hungarian nation,” Banki said.
Meeting his French counterpart Francois Fillon in Paris on Monday, Bajnai offered to mediate in a renationalisation dispute between the local council and the Hungarian unit of France’s Suez Environnement.
The council, which is controlled by the main opposition Fidesz party, broke Suez’s contract in September, after it failed to reach an agreement with the company on buying back its stake in the utility. In early October, the municipality set up a company to take over operation of the waterworks.
“We have no legal means at our disposal, but if it is about misunderstandings and not a deliberate action, I have offered my assistance in resolving the misunderstandings,” Bajnai said.
Banki said the prime minister’s approach was all the more incomprehensible as the suspicion of serious crimes – including fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, forgery and misappropriation of funds – has arisen in the affair.