Will Airport Sell-off Re-launch Prove Conspiracy-Mongers Right?

Readers of this week's "Stink" column got to enjoy what we reckoned was a plausible but not-fully-baked conspiracy theory about the troubled sell-off of Budapest Airport Rt, the operator of Budapest's Ferihegy airport. Our theory was that opposition leader Viktor Orbán's neo-Leninist rant against the sell-off, and a legal action against the plan by the airport's labor unions, may have something to do with the fact that an otherwise fearsomely powerful group of Hungarian tycoons had lost out in the first round of bidding. If the whole process was restarted, we said, and next time the spurned locals ended up on top, it would stink to high heaven.

Well, something is starting to smell, as the APV Rt (State Privatization and Holding Company) has announced a "fallback" plan to halt the existing deal and start from scratch. So if you are in any way invested in the idea of a pro-business Hungary, you should probably fasten your seatbelt and prepare for a bit of turbulence.