The negotiations with the IMF seem to be a process of „bizarre choreography”, starting with the announcement by Minister of the Economy György Matolcsy in November 2011 that Hungary was returning to the negotiating table. While the same „tiki-taka” style helped the Spanish national team to victory at the European Football Championships this summer, the Hungarian government has suffered a series of defeats. In December 2011 we “sent the IMF delegation home” for an early Christmas vacation so that the Parliament could pass a new legislation severely limiting the independence of the Hungarian National Bank, even though José Manuel Barroso repeatedly asked the government to reconsider. Such arrogance angered investors, credit default swap rates and government bond rates reached unknown heights, and the forint plummeted. The next move was to bring in Tamás Fellegi as chief negotiator.  His main mandate seems to have been, with hindsight, to announce that the government is willing to go ahead and give up “the Turkish card”. When Hungary’s efforts came to nothing, the government capitulated in Brussels – although it presented this turn of events to domestic audiences as a triumph. The date for the resumption of negotiations was set, but it is doubtful whether the IMF delegation will pass over the newly devised transaction tax and fail to ask what the real financial strategy behind the new action plan really is. This is the same tiki-taka game, and we wonder whether Mihály Varga, the new cabinet minister in charge of the negotiations will gain the upper hand in his argument with György Matolcsy.
http://nol.hu/velemeny/20120707-tiki-taka