Hungary extends the state of emergency for another six months. Extended rights for the Orban government
Viktor Orban Photo: Kay Nietfeld / DPA / Profimedia
The Hungarian Parliament approved on Tuesday the extension by another six months of the state of emergency as a result of the war in Ukraine, until May 13, 2026, i.e. until after the legislative elections scheduled for April, reports the EFE agency, taken over by Agerpres.
This allows the government led by conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban to issue decrees on emergency measures without debate in parliament. The government can also suspend the application of some laws, in certain specific cases.
The text voted on Tuesday by the legislature in Budapest signals that “the war and the humanitarian catastrophe continue in Ukraine”, therefore it is necessary to extend the state of emergency, declared for the first time in May 2022, three months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and then extended by Hungary every six months.
Hungary has been under various states of emergency or crisis without interruption since 2015. In the fall of that year, hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants crossed Hungarian territory to richer countries in Western Europe, such as Austria, Germany or Sweden, and the Budapest parliament then declared a state of crisis due to the massive migratory wave. This measure has also been extended every six months since then, although in the meantime the number of migrants coming via the Balkan route has decreased.
Between 2020 and 2022, the state of emergency determined by the COVID-19 pandemic was also in force in Hungary.
