Olivier Bailly, spokesman for the European Commission said there is no specific list of the conditions that need to be met, only that Hungary will need to secure the legal environment in order to boost investor confidence and ease market pressure on the economy. It seems that the two parties - this time Brussels and Budapest - are not on the same page. A London-based analyst learned that Tamás Fellegi, Hungary’s chief negotiator with the IMF and the EC on a loan programme, will be travelling to Brussels next Monday, saying this meeting will be "quite critical" for the European Commission.

Hungary was on the agenda once again at the European Commissions daily press conference on Wednesday, as the curiosity grows when the EU executive will publish its opinion on the responses Budapest sent with respect to the infringement proceedings Brussels launched against the country.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister János Martonyi said on Tuesday the cabinet does not know the specific preconditions it should meet in order to start formal talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EC.
"The preconditions are actually rather clear," Commission Spokesman Olivier Bailly told a press conference on Wednesday.
"In order to have a proper discussion between the IMF, the central bank, the European Commission and the Hungarian authorities on a possible loan to the country we need to secure the legal environment that would allow confidence of the investors in the country (to return). For the time being we consider that this confidence is not there," Bailly added.
The Commission encourages the Hungarian government to do "whatever is necessary" to secure the legal environment in the country and "allow investors to come back and to lower the pressure from the market on the economy."
Bailly explained that "there is not a clear set of elements" that will help restore investors’ confidence. " [...] the infringement (proceedings) that are open and all the questions we put in the two administrative letters are part of the questions that are on the table and to which we would like to get answers."
"I’m afraid I cannot list a full 20 or 30 points that have to be met; it’s more a general environment that needs to be secured," Bailly added.
Responding to another question the spokesman said the Commission has received "a number of replies we asked for" from the Hungarian authorities, confirming that these arrived within the deadline, which was 7 April.
"The authorities are co-operating with the Commission and have sent the necessary documents. These need to be translated and analysed. We’d expect that to take a few days," he said.
Bailly reminded that the next meeting of the Commission is in Strasbourg will take place a week from now, next Wednesday (18 April).
"I don’t have an exact timetable for you about dates when you can expect an EC decision. The Commission will decide on this once the legal analysis is finished."
Source: Portfolio.hu

Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 23:03