Following media reports about plans by Hungarian companies to acquire the Baltic bank Luminor and a controlling stake in the Lithuanian Achema Group, Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen says that “additional caution” is needed when it comes to investments by this country.
“Hungary’s position on Ukraine and Putin is very different from the consensus that usually exists in the EU. Yes, I think caution is definitely needed,” Čmilytė-Nielsen told the radio Žinių Radijas on Wednesday.
“As far as Hungary is concerned, I think some additional caution is needed,” she added.
She stressed that there are institutional safeguards – such as the Government Commission – in Lithuania to assess transactions of strategic companies.
Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg reported in early May that Orszagos Takarek Penztar (OTP), Hungary’s largest commercial bank which also operates in Russia, had expressed an interest in acquiring Luminor, a bank operating in the Baltics.
Also citing its sources, Delfi.lt earlier reported that Lyda Lubienė, the main shareholder of Lithuania’s biggest fertiliser manufacturer Achema, is selling her controlling stake in the group, which is to be acquired by the Swiss-based Hungarian energy company MET Group.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the only EU leader still in contact with the Kremlin after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. He has also repeatedly criticised Brussels’ policy towards Moscow.
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