Orban Builds Far-Right Influence With Bank Loans to Nationalists
- Financing to Spain’s Vox comes after loan to Le Pen group
- Orban politics abroad contrasts with sovereignty talk at home
Viktor Orban
Photographer: Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg
Spain’s Vox party became the latest far-right group to obtain a loan from a Hungarian bank to finance political campaigns, one of the ways Prime Minister Viktor Orban is building his influence among fellow nationalists in Europe.
Vox received financing from Magyar Bankholding Nyrt., a lender whose ownership is closely aligned with the Hungarian leader, Europa Press reported on Monday, citing people in the Spanish party’s executive it didn’t name. The reported loan was originally valued at €9.2 million ($10.2 million) but a Vox spokeswoman, Pepa Millan, later lowered the amount to €6.5 million, Europa Press said on Tuesday.