The problems related to the “state of danger” and the “enabling act” are primarily of a constitutional nature, but there may be political and social correlations to these acts. From that perspective, this article argues that while efficient action is vital in cases of health care emergency, there is no reason to accept unlimited, anti-democratic authorizations.
In light of the unconstitutional situation that still exists and, more generally, the well-documented backsliding of Hungarian democracy, we cannot pretend that the system of democratic checks and balances still exists, that there is an independent Constitutional Court, or that there is any guarantee that would put an end to our fears about the real purpose of the “state of danger” and the “enabling act” in question. The so-called “state of crisis due to mass migration”, which allows the authorities, inter alia, to block roads, ban or restrain the operation of public institutions, shut down areas and buildings, and restrain or ban the entering and leaving of such places, has been unlawfully maintained since 2016. Unlawful, or at least legally questionable, forms of the Hungarian government introducing and maintaining such special legal situations are not a bolt from the blue.