ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unforeseen social and legal problems in the democratic world. In some countries, the challenges were even more significant because pre-existing political and legal problems were aggravated by the pandemic. In Hungary, where the state of human rights, democracy and the rule of law was already grave in 2019, the pandemic only deepened and exacerbated the problems the country had before. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán strategically capitalised on the opportunity the COVID-19 situation provided to gain more unchecked power. A permanent state of emergency replaced rational discourse and a state operating within the bounds of fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. In order to prevent further erosion of the rule of law, domestic democratic resistance and supranational legal actions would be necessary; however, both have limited and ever-narrowing capacity to respond. As doubts arose concerning the meaningful support from the European institutions, no guarantee is within sight against the continuing autocratisation.
