Hungary bullies industry after toxic sludge disaster

The Hungarian government has pushed a legal amendement through parliament which allows the damaged aluminum plant to be placed under state control. For the liberal daily Sme this is another catastrophe: "The law stipulating that in the case of incidents vaguely described as disasters, companies may be placed under state control would not even be constitutional in Zimbabwe. October 11 will go down in our neighbours' history books as a day of present-day nationalisation. ... No doubt the owners and managers of the aluminum plant bear partial responsibility for the disaster. But not even the almost psychotic campaign launched by Prime Minister Orbán and his faithful media infantry against the company management can hide the fact that the Hungarian state is also to blame. ... With this move the prime minister is creating an anti-capitalist, anti-business atmosphere."

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