BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Hungary has declared a legal “state of danger” in response to Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine, the prime minister said on Tuesday, allowing the right-wing nationalist government to take special measures without the involvement of the legislature.
In a video on social media, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the war in Ukraine posed a “constant threat to Hungary” that “puts our physical security at risk and threatens the energy and financial security of our economy and families”.
In response, he said that a “state of war” would take effect on Wednesday, which would allow the government to “react immediately and protect Hungary and Hungarian families by all possible means.”
The move came after Orban’s ruling party passed a constitutional amendment Tuesday that allows legal states of danger to be declared when armed conflicts, wars or humanitarian disasters are raging in neighboring countries.
The special legal order allows the government to pass laws with decrees without parliamentary oversight and allows for temporary suspension and deviation from existing laws.
The Hungarian government has implemented similar measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic against the outrage of critics and legal observers who say they have given the government the power to govern by decree. This special legal order was to expire on June 1.
Orbán’s government has been accused of eroding democratic freedoms in Hungary since taking office in 2010 and using state resources to consolidate its power. The ruling Fidesz party won its fourth consecutive election victory on April 3rd, giving Orban, the longest-serving leader in the European Union, an additional four-year term.
In a statement Tuesday, Emese Pastor of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union wrote that the Hungarian government “is re-adapting the rules of the game to its own needs”.
“Always allowing for the possibility of introducing a special legal order in the future, it will lose its special character. “This will become the new norm, which will threaten the fundamental rights of all of us, and governing by decree will further reduce the importance of parliament,” Pastor wrote.
Government decrees issued by special legal order are valid for 15 days, unless extended by the Hungarian Parliament. Orban Fidesz’s party has a two-thirds majority in parliament since 2010.
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