The government in Budapest is hoping to do a deal with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union worth €15bn, but that’s hasn’t stopped it from blaming those two institutions for the time it’s taken to open negotations on the matter. The IMF and the EU had made any new loans dependent on rolling back legislation curbing the independence of the Hungarian Central Bank. With Hungary’s apparent climb-down on the law, the path to a new deal, said to be for three years, is becoming clearer. It hopes to conclude discussions by September, although Europe’s shifting political and economic winds could yet play their part in the final outcome.
