It took the Hungarian government months of increasing budget qualms to realise that it’s better to have an IMF umbrella than not to have one. Yet it appears that the realisation was theoretical. The Orbán government emphasised that no major policy concessions would be forthcoming to reach an agreement with the Monetary Fund, but it failed to warn the public in time that it planned to implement measures to make an agreement far less likely. Even as the IMF and EU delegations were involved in talks with their Hungarian counterparts, Fidesz introduced bills that would allow the government to take control of the Central Bank, while it also wishes to nationalise the few remaining accounts in the formerly mandatory private pension scheme. Fidesz is simultaneously undermining democracy, the rule of law and what’s left of Hungary’s international standing.

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