Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Marine Le Pen received loan from Hungarian bank with ties to Viktor Orban

Marine Le Pen received loan from Hungarian bank with ties to Viktor Orban

French lenders have been reluctant to finance far-right candidate’s campaigns
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen received a €10.7mn personal loan for her campaign from Hungary’s state-backed MKB Bank, whose largest shareholder is a close associate of premier Viktor Orban

The loan was declared on a disclosure form that French candidates must file with the elections regulator about their personal assets and debts, which was published online on Tuesday.

Unlike other French political parties, Le Pen’s National Rally has long had difficulty financing campaigns because French banks will not lend to it out of concerns over reputational risk. The party worked with the government mediator on credit last year to try to remedy the situation, but failed to secure a loan in France.

“It’s scandalous that French banks will not lend to us,” Thierry Mariani, a member of the European parliament for the National Rally party, said last month. “We had to go abroad to find funds.”

According to two sources familiar with the matter, the decision to ask MKB to extend the loan to Le Pen came from Orban’s inner circle — signalling a high level of direct political influence at the bank. MKB has been about one-third state owned since a complex merger announced last year.

Asked about political influence over the decision, Orban’s spokesman Bertalan Havasi said: “That is fake news.” A bank spokesman declined to comment on the lending rationale.

The loan is listed on the disclosure form as having a term length of 16 months. Le Pen would likely be able to pay it back once her campaign costs are reimbursed by the state, which will occur as long as she clears 5 per cent of votes in the first round and files accounts with the regulator.

Gergely Gulyas, Orban’s chief of staff, was asked about the loan in February when French media reported that Le Pen had secured financing from a Hungarian bank.

“It is probably a good deal for any bank of the EU to issue credit which it is guaranteed to recover soon,” Gulyas said. “The freedom of services is a fundamental right in the EU.”

The National Bank of Hungary, which acts as the market regulator in Budapest, said a loan to a foreign political party or candidate would not contravene any local regulations. But several bankers said they saw the loan as problematic because of the political exposure.

Le Pen has long courted Orban and other populist or far-right leaders in Europe as they push their ideas about cutting immigration, protecting national identity, and opposing what they call power grabs by Brussels.

Le Pen has made multiple trips to Hungary in recent years, and met Orban in Madrid in January at a summit of far-right and populist parties. At her first big campaign rally in Reims last month, Orban appeared in a video message of support along others like Italy’s Matteo Salvini and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders.

“Marine Le Pen is a battle-hardened warrior,” said Orban in the video. “I wish her good luck in this combat for France!”

In 2014, Le Pen’s party turned to banks in Russia ahead of regional elections for a €9.4mn loan, some of which is still outstanding. In 2017 it used crowdfunding from supporters after banks closed its accounts in what Le Pen called a “banking fatwa”.

Orban, a nationalist who like Le Pen also faces elections in April, has helped strengthen Hungary’s banking sector, with a key role played by MKB owner Lorinc Meszaros, his childhood friend and the country’s richest tycoon.

Meszaros — a former pipe fitter who has openly attributed his rise to “God, good fortune and Viktor Orban” — controls a business empire that includes several banks, construction, tourism, energy and media companies in Hungary and central-eastern Europe.

He has relied heavily on state procurement. But fears over inadequate safeguards for EU-funded contracts has prompted Brussels to threaten Budapest with the suspension of funds.

While President Emmanuel Macron is favoured to win re-election in France’s two-round vote that begins April 10, Le Pen is well positioned to make the run-off against him, setting up a repeat of the 2017 election.

She is running second in the polls, with 16.6 per cent of first round voting intentions, according to the Financial Times poll tracker, while her far-right rival Eric Zemmour is on 12.9 per cent, leftwing Jean-Luc Mélenchon on 12 per cent, and conservative Valérie Pécresse on 11.8 per cent.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
China Presses Netherlands to “properly” Resolve the Nexperia Seizure as Supply Chain Risks Grow
Merz Attacks Migrants, Sparks Uproar, and Refuses to Apologize: “Ask Your Daughters”
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
×