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Showing true illiberal colours: Rule of law vs Orbán’s pandemic politics. CEPS Policy Insights 30 Apr 2020.

Bárd, Petra and Carrera, Sergio (2020) Showing true illiberal colours: Rule of law vs Orbán’s pandemic politics. CEPS Policy Insights 30 Apr 2020. [Policy Paper]

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    Abstract

    The Hungarian government has declared a “state of danger” and granted itself indefinite extraordinary powers. This serves other political interests than those of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, argue Petra Bárd and Sergio Carrera. This Policy Insight assesses the scope of what has now become known as the ‘Enabling Act’, which grants Viktor Obán’s government the power to rule by decree. It considers the implications of this Act for the effective democratic control of executive actions and other checks and balances, such as media pluralism and freedom of association. The authors note that the EU has so far been unable to halt rule of law backsliding by Hungary’s government, despite the fact that it has violated the founding principles of the Treaty on European Union, as enshrined in Article 2 for over a decade. The paper proposes more EU centralisation in the assessment of all member states’ compliance with the triad of rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights. It suggests, first, the enforcement of EU standards by the European Commission and the Luxembourg Court through ‘rule of law infringement proceedings’, and second, the adoption of an interinstitutional EU Periodic Review (EUPR) of Article 2 TEU values.

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    Item Type: Policy Paper
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > law & legal affairs-general (includes international law)
    EU policies and themes > EU institutions & developments > European Commission
    Countries > Hungary
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > democracy/democratic deficit
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > governance: EU & national level
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels) > CEPS Policy Insights
    Depositing User: Daniel Pennell
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 15 Apr 2021 11:20
    Number of Pages: 17
    Last Modified: 15 Apr 2021 11:20
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/103373

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