Government by Decree: A Never-Ending Story? Analysis of Hungary’s Emergency Legislation (2020–2024)

Abstract As of March 2025, Hungary has been under a state of danger – an emergency regime provided for in the Hungarian Fundamental Law – for five years, following its initial declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent re-declaration in May 2022 in reaction to the Russia–Ukraine war. With only a brief interruption between June and November 2020, this means that Hungary has effectively been governed under emergency rule for half a decade. The primary aim of this article i