Poland concerned over planned move of Russian-led bank to Budapest
PR dla Zagranicy
Julian Horodyski
15.05.2019 14:50
The Polish government wants to know why Budapest has agreed to be the new home of a Russian-led investment bank, a Polish deputy prime minister has said in a media interview in Hungary.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Beata SzydłoPhoto: commons.wikimedia.org/Claude Truong-Ngoc/CC BY-SA 3.0
In an interview with Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Beata Szydło voiced concern over the future status of the Russian-led International Investment Bank and its prospective staff in Budapest.
“We would like to receive a statement from the Hungarian government on why a Russian development bank is relocating its headquarters to Budapest," said Szydło. "How does Hungary justify this decision?"
The Hungarian government and the International Investment Bank in February signed an agreement to move the bank’s headquarters from Moscow to Budapest.
Under the agreement, the bank would acquire a wide range of immunities and privileges and effectively be granted diplomatic status enabling it “to bring virtually anybody into the EU,” Hungarian website index.hu has reported.
“In our opinion, such diplomatic status potentially endangers international safety, because it makes it easy for Russian secret services to operate,” Szydło said.
The International Investment Bank was originally established in 1970 to promote economic development and cooperation among member states of the now-defunct Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.
The Soviet-led economic organisation operated from 1949 to 1991 and comprised Eastern bloc countries.
The current member states of the International Investment Bank are Russia, Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Romania, Slovakia and Vietnam.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP, index.hu