First, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has the constitution changed, then he declares a state of emergency because of the Ukraine war. The one imposed because of Corona has not even expired.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared a state of emergency in his country because of the war in neighboring Ukraine. The right-wing politician said in a video on his Facebook page that the regulation will come into force on Wednesday at 12:00 a.m. CEST.
The state of emergency allows Orban to repeal current laws and take coercive measures by decree. Orban had had the constitutional basis for this type of emergency created in parliament just a few hours earlier. With the two-thirds majority of the right-wing nationalist Fidesz party, the parliament approved the corresponding constitutional amendment. According to this, the government can declare a state of emergency if a neighboring country is affected by armed conflict, war or a humanitarian disaster.
Ukraine, against which Russia has been waging a war of aggression for three months, is one of Hungary’s neighbors. Orban has only half-heartedly condemned Moscow’s aggression. He does not allow arms deliveries to Ukraine to pass through his country. Only a fraction of the Ukrainian refugees who have come to Hungary to date have applied for asylum there. In the EU, Orban blocked the planned oil import embargo against Russia with a veto threat.
The corona emergency will also apply in Donauland until the end of the month. Orban had imposed it at the beginning of the corona pandemic in spring 2020, and since then parliament has extended it several times. The power-conscious head of government, who has been in office since 2010, also used it for purposes that could hardly be justified by dealing with the health situation. These included measures to financially damage opposition-governed communities or to give advantages to pro-government businessmen.
