Where’s György?

By A.L.B. | BUDAPEST

HUNGARIANS are rightly proud of their warrior heritage. Magyar fighters have gone selflessly into battle against their oppressors, taking on the Austrian army in 1848 or the Soviets in 1956. Both were military disasters for Hungary, but nobody can deny the soldiers' courage.

Now Hungary is once again at war, says György Matolcsy, the economy minister. This time the fight is for economic freedom, against bankers, speculators and the greatest enemy of all: the International Monetary Fund.

Most observers believe that Hungary needs a deal with the IMF: bond yields have soared to a two-year high, Moody's has downgraded the government's debt to junk status, the forint has lost 15% of its value in the last three months and the central bank has been forced to increase interest rates to 6.5%.

But Mr Matolcsy thinks differently. Last month, asked about the government's relationship with the IMF, he said:

We cannot attune [economic policy] to the IMF as they deeply object to all Hungarian decisions that are aimed at freeing the people from the shackles of the banks. This three-letter institution objects to every single measure we make, thus we are not attuning government policy to them, but against them.

Such vituperation is decidedly undiplomatic but certainly plays well to the parliamentary gallery, loyalists of the ruling Fidesz party and, especially, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, who shares his minister's views, if not his means of expression.

Mr Matolcsy, then, should surely have been the natural choice to lead the charge against the IMF when talks commence, probably early next year. So Budapest's chattering classes were amazed when the government named the three members of its negotiating team: Tamás Fellegi, the well-regarded development minister; Antal Rogán, the head of parliament's economic committee and a possible successor to Mr Orbán; and Gyula Pleschinger, a state secretary at the economy ministry.

So where's György? Perhaps he is ensconced with the boss, planning the next stage of Hungary's war against international financiers. There is growing unhappiness with his performance in business and even government circles. Yet Mr Matolcsy's absence from the negotiating team has no significance, says Péter Szijjártó, Mr Orban's spokesman. The prime minister himself has declared: "György Matolcsy is my right hand. Nobody could name a high enough sum for which I would be willing to give up my right hand.”

Except, perhaps, for the IMF.