Vox demands the Spanish state cover 11% interest on a Hungarian bank loan

Vox asks the state to pay the interest on its 11% loan from Orbán's bank

The party that preaches a slimmer state now wants taxpayers to cover the interest on its own loan. According to reporting by El País, Vox obtained a multi-million-euro loan from a Hungarian bank linked to Viktor Orbán at an 11% rate, six points above what Spanish institutions were offering. The party is now demanding that the state reimburse those interest payments, arguing it did not receive the public funds it was owed for its election results in time.

A bailout with an Agamemnon flavour

"The truth is the truth, whether Agamemnon tells it or his swineherd," some argue in the debate. But the core issue is economic: a party that presents itself as a guarantor of financial orthodoxy is demanding a public bailout to cover its own poor credit management. The official argument is that the state failed to transfer its election subsidies on time, forcing the party to seek external financing at abusive rates. Critics respond that nobody forced it to accept an 11% interest rate — nothing more and nothing less than Euribor plus 7 points — when Spanish banks were lending at 5%.

The debate over party funding

The case opens Pandora's box on public party financing. Vox maintains that the state should absorb the extra cost because delayed payments were the cause. But, as some voices point out, "if they couldn't get loans from Spanish banks, the problem is solvency, not timing." The underlying question is whether political parties should have access to soft credit guaranteed by the state, or whether each should manage its own risks. The irony is that Vox, which abhors state intervention, is now asking for one.

What will happen if they reach government? Given these precedents, the promise of "less state" could turn into "the state for my friends, the market for everyone else."