Hungarian Govn't Declares State of War Emergency

The governing majority of the ruling Fidesz party passed the 10^th amendment of Basic Law to extend the government's powers to declare a state of emergency. This will now be possible not only in the event of an epidemic, but also in the event of war in a neighboring country. The government took the opportunity immediately and PM Viktor Orbán declared a a state of war emergency as of midnight this Tuesday.

The Basic Law that replaced Hungary’s Constitution in 2012 with the votes of the parliamentary majority of the Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has now been amended for the tenth time.

According to the government, the current amendment "allows the government to declare a state of emergency in the event of war, armed conflict or humanitarian disaster in a neighboring country, so that all necessary means are available to assist, support and accommodate people fleeing the situation, and to prevent the adverse economic effects of the situation and mitigate the consequences."

As the popular news site telex.hu notes, state of emergency in the Hungarian legal order is a so-called qualified period, during which a special legal order is in force. This means that in an emergency, the government can adopt decrees suspending the application of certain laws. In principle, the government cannot do this, as laws are made by Parliament, and therefore in the hierarchy of legal sources, laws are considered to be higher level legislation than government decrees. In a state of emergency, the government may indeed issue regulations that would otherwise be inconsistent with certain laws.