Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

The coronavirus and the ‘quarantining’ of Hungarian democracy

Stephen Pogány 1st April 2020

Many aspects of normal life have been suspended in Hungary due to the coronavirus, including parliamentary democracy.

Hungarian democracy
Stephen Pogány

A controversial Act to Protect Against the Coronavirus, ostensibly safeguarding Hungary from the ravages of the pandemic, was adopted by the country’s National Assembly and entered into force at midnight on March 30th. The new law has been fiercely criticised by opposition parties, independent parliamentarians, prominent lawyers and others.

An online petition, posted just days before the act was passed, was signed by almost 110,000 Hungarians—including two former ombudsmen, a former judge of the Constitutional Court and a former state secretary. It denounced the proposed legislation as draconian and as serving blatantly political purposes. Noting that the bill would ‘eliminate the last remaining constitutional safeguards from our public life’, the petition cautioned that, by adopting it, the National Assembly would be committing ‘suicide’ and transferring its powers to a government which, as demonstrated in the past, would ‘use them for its own purposes’. The petition warned there was a very real danger that ‘the government wants to use the crisis to seize absolute power’.

Concerns shared

In light of the record of Viktor Orbán regime’s over the past decade in ‘de-democratising’ Hungary, many independent observers, domestically and abroad, share the concerns of the drafters of the petition and Hungary’s opposition parties. Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on March 23rd, a well-placed German commentator concluded—under the headline ‘Democracy under quarantine’—that the prime minister apparently wanted to use the virus threat ‘to radically expand his power: prolong the state of emergency indefinitely, cancel parliament and the separation of powers, govern by decree’.

Although employing more diplomatic language, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, wrote to Orbán on March 24th, emphasising that ‘the measures which member states take in the present exceptional circumstances of the pandemic must comply with both national constitutions and international standards, and observe the very essence of democratic principles’. Juan Fernando López Aguilar, chair of the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament, called the same day on the European Commission ‘to assess if the proposed bill complies with the values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and to remind member states of their responsibility to respect and protect these common values’.    

Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content.


We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Thank you!

Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription.

.

The act almost certainly breaches obligations enshrined in key Council of Europe texts and the TEU. By sidelining the National Assembly, banning elections and plebiscites during the state of emergency declared on March 11th, and vesting virtually unfettered powers in the government for an indefinite period, it has suspended an already deficient Hungarian democracy.

Government by decree

In particular, the act allows ministers to govern by decree for the duration of the state of emergency. Existing laws may be suspended or deviated from at the discretion of the government, which is also free to adopt virtually any decree it considers appropriate—provided that it is ‘necessary’ and ‘proportionate’ and taken ‘for the purpose of preventing, managing, and eliminating the human epidemic set forth in the Decree as well as for preventing and mitigating its harmful effects’ (section 2(2)).

Many commentators are concerned that, in practice, the executive will be free to determine unilaterally whether the criteria set forth in s2(2) have been met. The possibility of meaningful parliamentary scrutiny of decrees or other measures adopted is remote, at best, given the two-thirds majority enjoyed by the Fidesz-KDNP government and that its habitually quiescent MPs will continue to be subject to strict party discipline.

In any event, Hungary’s parliament is poised to suspend sittings for the foreseeable future, allegedly due to the risks posed by the pandemic. In such circumstances, the act merely stipulates that ‘[t]he Government shall provide information on a regular basis … for the Speaker of the Parliament and the heads of parliamentary representatives’ groups—about the measures that are taken to avert the emergency’ (s4). According to Péter Bárándy, who served as Hungary’s minister of justice from 2002 to 2004, its passage means that ‘the National Assembly no longer exists, its functioning is an illusion’.

Judicial oversight of decrees or other measures adopted by the government remains theoretically possible. The act acknowledges the competence of the Constitutional Court and notes that it could hold online sessions (s5). But in practice it is highly improbable that the court—its judges widely viewed as sympathetic to Fidesz—would declare that measures instituted by the Orbán administration were unlawful. As noted by the Princeton scholar Kim Lane Scheppele, with perhaps a touch of hyperbole, ‘the Constitutional Court has been a reliable rubber stamp for Orbán since it was captured in 2013, so no one expects serious constraints on the Prime Minister to issue from those quarters’.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

Indeterminate period

The act stipulates that neither elections nor referenda may be held (s6) for an indeterminate period—‘until the end of the emergency’ (s3(1)). This threat to democracy is compounded by the fact that, although Orbán has tried to reassure opposition MPs and others that the National Assembly and not the Government shall decide when the emergency has ended, Fidesz-KDNP’s two-thirds majority in the assembly means that, in practice, the decision will rest with the government.

Crucially, extending the state of emergency for an indefinite period subverts the safeguards built into Hungary’s constitution or Fundamental Law. According to article 53 of this instrument, the government may declare a state of emergency ‘[i]n the event of a natural disaster … endangering life and property, or in order to mitigate its consequences’ and may take ‘extraordinary measures’ in the form of decrees. But such decrees may only remain in force for 15 days ‘unless the Government, on the basis of authorisation by the National Assembly, extends those decrees’.

The Fundamental Law establishes an appropriate balance between the need to act quickly and decisively in the face of a genuine public emergency and the general interest in assuring parliamentary oversight of executive actions—particularly where such actions may involve far-reaching restrictions on, or interference with, fundamental rights or freedoms. By contrast, the  Act to Protect Against the Coronavirus disregards the vital safeguards enshrined in article 53 of the Fundamental Law, in favour of vesting unprecedented and largely unchecked powers in a government which has amply demonstrated  its aversion to basic tenets of constitutional democracy.

New offences

The act has also drawn heavy criticism for creating new criminal offences which could potentially encroach on the freedom of the media to publish or broadcast legitimate reports concerning the authorities’ handling of the epidemic. It provides, inter alia, that ‘[p]ersons who … claim or spread a falsehood or claim or spread a distorted truth in relation to the emergency … commit a crime that is punishable by up to three years of prison’ (s10).

What amounts to a ‘distorted truth in relation to the emergency’ is scarcely free of ambiguity. Would an article interrogating the need for the Act to Protect Against the Coronavirus or questioning the bona fides of those who drafted or enacted it amount to a breach of the provision? Would Hungarian judges accept such a construction? Would prosecutors seek to bring the authors of such stories before the courts?

Uncertainty about the scope of the new offences or how they are likely to be interpreted will almost certainly encourage a climate of caution and self-censorship among those media outlets still free of direct or indirect editorial control by the government and its associates. In her letter to the prime minister, the secretary general of the Council of Europe emphasised that ‘democratic debate in national parliaments, in the media and the internet, as well as access to official information and documents are essential elements of any free and democratic order and of particular importance in crisis situations to maintain trust and confidence within society’.

In a recent briefing document, the respected International Crisis Group warned that there was ‘ample room for political leaders to try to exploit COVID-19’, raising the spectre of unjustifiable delays in the holding of elections and the ‘narrowing of political space’, as unscrupulous and authoritarian governments sought to entrench themselves in power. Fearing that ‘as the crisis goes on, some leaders could order restrictive measures that make public health sense at the peak of the crisis and then extend them in the hope of quashing dissent once the disease declines’, the ICG identified recent developments in Hungary as a potential ‘harbinger of what is to come’.

The coronavirus is taking lives and threatening economies. Of equal import, however, is the fact that the virus—or the reaction to it by certain governments—may deprive citizens of cherished freedoms and the very essence of democracy.

Stephen Pogány

Stephen Pogány is emeritus professor in the School of Law, University of Warwick. His latest book is Modern Times: The Biography of a Hungarian-Jewish Family (2021).

Home ・ Politics ・ The coronavirus and the ‘quarantining’ of Hungarian democracy

Most Popular Posts

Boris Johnson, Brexit, Conservative,conservatism Boris Johnson: blustering onPaul Mason
deglobalisation,deglobalization,Davos Getting deglobalisation rightJoseph Stiglitz
schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling
world order,Russia,China,Europe,United States,US The coming world orderMarc Saxer
south working,remote work ‘South working’: the future of remote workAntonio Aloisi and Luisa Corazza

Most Recent Posts

public services,public service,women,public service workers Public services should not be the victims of inflationIrene Ovonji-Odida
gdp,gross domestic product Let’s count what really mattersJayati Ghosh
green transition,just transition,fossil fuel,energy transition,Ukraine,Russia Ukraine and the geopolitics of the energy transitionBéla Galgóczi and Paolo Tomassetti
energy,efficiency,generation,solar,price,inflation From subsidising energy to reducing dependenceHans Dubois
SPO,Rendi-Wagner,Austria,social democratic,social democrat,social democracy A social-democratic decade ahead?Robert Misik

Other Social Europe Publications

National recovery and resilience plans
The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020

ETUI advertisement

ETUI/ETUC conference: A Blueprint for Equality

Join us at the three-day hybrid conference ‘A blueprint for equality’ (22-24 June).

The case against inequality has already been strongly articulated. Inequality is not just incidental to a particular crisis but a structural problem created by an economic model. Now is the time to explore what real equality should look like.

As a media partner of this event, Social Europe is delighted to invite you to this three-day conference, organised by the ETUI and ETUC. More than 90 speakers from the academic world, international organisations, trade unions and NGOs will participate, including the economist Thomas Piketty and the European commissioner Nicolas Schmit.


MORE INFOMATION HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Minimum wages in 2022: annual review

Nominal minimum wage rates rose significantly in 2022, compared with 2021. In 20 of the 21 European Union member states with statutory minimum wages, rates increased. When inflation is taken into account, however, the minimum wage increased in real terms in only six member states. If current inflation trends continue, minimum wages will barely grow at all in real terms in any country in 2022.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube