Hungary
The European Union will not take Hungary to court to resolve a row over a central bank law that has frozen aid talks with the IMF, fuelling optimism that Budapest may be near a deal to stabilise the country’s economy.
Prime minister Viktor Orban said yesterday that obstacles to Hungary’s financial aid had been “practically removed”, though the European Commission’s top official insisted after a meeting between the two men that more discussion was needed.
Hungary’s forint firmed over 1 per cent after Orban’s comments and on a document in which the commission said it would not refer the legal dispute to the European Court of Justice.
The EU’s executive, at odds with Orban over his overhaul of the Hungarian constitution and hundreds of laws, halted talks on an IMF loan last December.