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Central Europe
June 9, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
be launched against Hungary over Budapest’s efforts to close the Central European University and impose strict regulations on NGOs. The Commission said the same day it will move forward on an infringement procedure against Hungary concerning its asylum legislation.
The same day, the rumbling confrontation
with Poland over the rule of law in the country was put before the European Council for the first time since a probe was launched in January 2016.
The willingness to take on the illiberal axis of Hungary and Poland also likely stems from the fact that the rest of the Visegrad group has shown clearly that it will not support the duo’s efforts to incite “revolution” within the EU. Migrant quotas
RBI suspends preparations for IPO of Polish unit
bne IntelliNews
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has suspend- ed preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) of its Polish unit Raiffeisen Polbank, the Austrian banking group confirmed on June 7.
Polish financial market regulator KNF announced early on June 7 that it has stopped working on the project after a request from Vienna. Neither the watchdog nor the bank would discuss the reason for the move. However, with RBI under a deadline to float a 15% stake by the end of June, it seems likely that the bank is seeking an agreement from KNF to postpone the sale amidst valuation con- cerns, or even that it could seek to revive talks
is practically the only high profile issue that the four agree upon.
Thus far, Warsaw and Budapest have shrugged off the EU push, confident that Brussels is pow- erless to hit them with Article 7, which could see their voting rights in the EU removed, as they can protect one another with a veto. However, sugges- tions that the issues could be linked to EU funds has rattled the pair before.
A drop in absorption of EU funds saw investment sag last year, draining economic growth in both countries. Poland is the largest recipient under the 2014-20 programme with around €90bn avail- able. Hungary and the Czech Republic could get €25bn a piece, Slovakia €15bn.
RBI is under a deadline to float a 15% stake in Polbank by the end of June.
to sell, which would release it from its committ- ment to float the unit. Johann Strobl, RBI's CEO, was reported to have recently travelled to Warsaw to negotiate delaying the sale.
KNF announced that it has suspended work on the IPO prospectus, which was submitted by RBI in April, but a spokesman reiterated to PAP, how- ever, that June 30 stands as a deadline.
RBI's commitment to list the stake was a condi- tion of KNF’s consent in 2012 for the Austrian bank's acquisition of the unit from Greek lender Eurobank. The June 30 deadline leaves RBI with