Posts
Hungary
Throws Out Monsanto AND The IMF
Raul
Ilargi Meijer, Automatic Earth
7
September, 2012
I
don't know about you, but I would label my personal knowledge of
Hungary as wanting, if not painfully incomplete. It's not an easy
country to come to grips with, not least of all of course because
Hungarian doesn't look like any western language we know with the
possible exception of Finnish. I did visit just after the Wall came
down, and remember huge contrasts, almost paradoxes, between rural
poverty and a capital, Budapest, that was much richer than other
capitals such as Prague, a leftover of Budapest's status as meeting
place between western and eastern diplomats and businessmen.
The
riches were not for all, though, the city center was full of beggars
and panhandlers, mostly Roma. To keep up the paradox, Mercedes sold
more luxury models in Hungary than just about anywhere else back
then, reportedly mostly also to Roma; just not the same.
In
the years since, precious little attention has been and is being
devoted to the former eastern bloc countries in the Anglo press. We
know most of the countries are now members of the European Union, but
only a few have been allowed to enter the hallowed grounds of the
eurozone.
One
thing I did pick up on last year was the news that Hungary's PM
Victor Orbán had thrown chemical, food and seed giant Monsanto out
of the country, going as far as to plow under 1000 acres of land.
Now, I have little patience for Monsanto, infamous for many products
ranging from Agent Orange to Round-Up, nor for its ilk, from DuPont
to Sygenta, all former chemical companies that have at some point
decided they could sell more chemicals than ever before by applying
them on and inside everyone's daily food. Patenting nature itself
seems either unworthy of mankind or its grandest achievement. I don't
care much for either one. So Orbán (who has a two-thirds majority in
parliament, by the way) has my tentative support on this one.
This
is from July 22, 2011, International Business Times:
In
an effort to rid the country of Monsanto's GMO products, Hungary has
stepped up the pace. This looks like its going to be another slap in
the face for Monsanto. A new regulation was introduced this March
which stipulates that seeds are supposed to be checked for GMO before
they are introduced to the market. Unfortunately, some GMO seeds made
it to the farmers without them knowing it.
Almost
1000 acres of maize found to have been grown with genetically
modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary deputy state
secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar said. The
GMO maize has been ploughed under, said Lajos Bognar, but pollen has
not spread from the maize, he added.
Unlike
several EU members, GMO seeds are banned in Hungary. The checks will
continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure
that their products are GMO free, Bognar said. During their
investigation, controllers have found Pioneer and Monsanto products
among the seeds planted.
It's
remarkably hard to find sources on this, ironically. It’s even
harder, even more ironically, to find anything that mentions the
Wikileaks report on the connections between the US government and the
chemical/seed industry. Which is curious, in my opinion; it's not as
if there's nothing newsworthy in the topic. Just about the only thing
I could find was this from Anthony Gucciardi at NaturalSociety.com.
The
United States is threatening nations who oppose Monsanto’s
genetically modified (GM) crops with military-style trade wars,
according to information obtained and released by the organization
WikiLeaks. Nations like France, which have moved to ban one of
Monsanto’s GM corn varieties, were requested to be ‘penalized’
by the United States for opposing Monsanto and genetically modified
foods. The information reveals just how deep Monsanto’s roots have
penetrated key positions within the United States government, with
the cables reporting that many U.S. diplomats work directly for
Monsanto. [..]
Perhaps
the most shocking piece of information exposed by the cables is the
fact that these U.S. diplomats are actually working directly for
biotech corporations like Monsanto. The cables also highlight the
relationship between the U.S. and Spain in their conquest to persuade
other nations to allow for the expansion of GMO crops. Not only did
the Spanish government secretly correspond with the U.S. government
on the subject, but the U.S. government actually knew beforehand how
Spain would vote before the Spanish biotech commission reported their
decision regarding GMO crops.
It
doesn't look like Orbán and Hungary have a lot of support in their
fight against Monsanto and GMO in general on the political front. But
that still does little to explain the radio silence.
There
was more international reporting earlier this year, when Orbán again
faced up to two other major forces, in this instance the IMF and the
EU. On January 1, the Hungarian parliament and president signed a new
constitution into law. And it contains a number of things that the
Troika members don't like. In particular, they are probably at odds
with taxes levied on bank transactions, and especially central bank
transactions. Not the kind of thing the IMF is likely to ever agree
with. It all gets clad in protesting (the EU even threatens with
courts) the independence under fire of the central bank, the media
and other parts of Hungarian society.
The
IMF and EU, like the tandem team of Monsanto and Washington before
them, act like schoolyard bullies. It's become their standard MO, and
it usually works. Portraits of Orbán as a fool, a reckless idiot and
a dangerous populist, on par with that of Hugo Chavez or newly found
international enemy Rafael Correa, are much easier to find than those
links to Wikileaks Monsanto cables. It would be good to see Orbán
continue to stand up to the IMF bullies, but he may not have that
choice. They can simply financially bleed him dry, like they have so
many other countries and their leaders. It's a time tested model.
So
maybe we’ll have to do with a good and hearty chuckle, and enjoy
his announcement yesterday:
Hungary's
prime minister has long had a testy relationship with the
International Monetary Fund — and on Thursday he used Facebook to
unfriend the agency and reject its allegedly tough loan conditions.
Prime
Minister Viktor Orban said in a video message on his official
Facebook page that Hungary could not accept pension cuts, the
elimination of a bank tax, fewer public employees and other
conditions in exchange for an IMF loan that other officials have said
could be about €15 billion ($18.9 billion). The IMF's list
of conditions, Orban said, " contains everything
that is not in Hungary's interests."
Orban's
announcement took the markets by surprise, in part because just a day
earlier he had said loan negotiations with the IMF and the European
Union were going according to schedule and both sides were willing to
reach an agreement. [..]
In
late 2008, under a Socialist government, Hungary became the first EU
country to receive an IMF-led bailout. The Orban government, however,
decided not to renew the loan agreement in 2010 so it could implement
its economic policies without IMF control. But the increasing
weakness of the forint, the Hungarian currency, and investors'
growing loss of trust in the country's economy made the government
abruptly change its mind late last year, when it again sought IMF
help.
Basically,
what the IMF demands is what it has always demanded through the years
from countries it lends money to: cut pensions, cut the public
sector, cut benefits yada yada, and then privatize, open markets, and
open financial systems, so international operating conglomerates can
move in and divvy up the spoils - "create a more 'business
friendly' environment to boost growth" -. The IMF is the poster
child for disaster capitalism, no matter how you twist and turn it.
And Orbán can see clearly what is being done to Greece, which is
just around the corner from Hungary.
A
“list of horrors”. That’s how Hungary’s prime minister Viktor
Orbán described on Thursday the conditions given by the IMF / EU for
a deal, via a video on his Facebook page. [..]
Orban
blamed the “long list” of onerous conditions that had,
supposedly, been leaked to Magyar Nemzet, a slavishly pro-government
daily, on Wednesday. The list contains a number of Orbán’s most
sacred political themes, including cuts in pensions, family
allowances and transport perks, an increase in the age of retirement,
the introduction of a property tax, the abolition of the bank and
financial transaction taxes, and modifications to the flat-rate,
personal income tax regime.
And
here's a bit more:
Hungary
threw hopes for a new loan to prop up its sagging economy into
disarray on Thursday as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
rejected what he called unacceptable IMF conditions, crushing
prospects for a fast agreement. Orban, in a video posted on his
Facebook page, cited demands from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) for a raft of changes that he said were too high a price for
Hungary to pay.
"From
cutting pensions to reducing bureaucracy to scrapping the bank tax
and the funds to be made available to banks, everything is in there
that's not in Hungary's interest," Orban said. "The
parliamentary group meeting (of the ruling Fidesz party) took the
view, and I personally agree with it, that at this price, this will
not work," he added. [..]
To
reverse that momentum, Orban is pushing a 300 billion forint ($1.33
billion) job saving plan, partly funded by a new tax on
central bank operations, a key sticking point in the IMF talks,
which the European Central Bank has also criticised. [..]
"Junk"-rated
Hungary faces a repayment hump in the next five quarters, with the
equivalent of €4.6 billion euros falling due from its
previous IMF/EU bailout alone.
It's
enough of a David vs Goliath fight, or a Little Red Riding Hood vs
the Wolf, to make one question the bullies. Now, I don't really know
Victor Orbán, all I know is western media descriptions of him, not a
very reliable source, and he could well be a bully himself. But I
still like the Little Red Riding Hood story (and dislike Monsanto and
the IMF) enough to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
And
besides, it's as refreshing as it is high time to talk about
something else than Greece or Spain. We'll have to get back to them
soon enough, after Draghi's unlimited buying bailout boondoggle
yesterday
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