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A consortium partly owned by the Hungarian government officially threatened the Spanish government with legal action on Friday over its decision to block a takeover bid for a Spanish train-maker.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s leftist government blocked the deal on “national security” grounds, notably potential Hungarian links to Russia, according to earlier Spanish media reports.
The unprecedented veto is the latest symbol of how relations between Hungary and other European Union countries have deteriorated over charges that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government is pro-Russian.
That has now drawn a furious response from the Hungarian consortium, Ganz-Mávag Europe, which confirmed Friday it would withdraw its bid for Spanish train-maker Talgo — while launching a withering attack and legal threats against the Spanish veto.
Ganz-Mávag Europe, which is 55 percent owned by the Hungarian train manufacturing group Magyar Vagon and 45 percent by the Hungarian state investment fund Corvinus, wrote in its letter to the Spanish market regulator that its takeover bid for Talgo complies with all applicable legal requirements and that there are “no well-founded reasons” for Spain to reject it.
They intend now to appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court and “to the competent bodies of the European Union,” adding that if the consortium’s legal challenges are successful, they “may consider” resubmitting their offer for Talgo.
According to Spanish media, Madrid’s block on the deal was motivated by alleged links between Moscow and the Ganz-Mávag Europe consortium: Magyar Vagon was a subsidiary of Russian train manufacturer Transmashholding and has historical financial ties to Russia’s Exim Bank, and the other stakeholder, Orbán’s Hungarian government, also maintains friendly relations with the Kremlin.
A European Commission spokesperson said Thursday that “the prerogative lies with the member states” which can restrict single market freedoms, such as the freedom of movement of capital on public security grounds, but these measures must be justified and proportionate to the objective.
The consortium made the decision to withdraw at a board meeting in Budapest on Thursday afternoon.
