ABSTRACT
Hungary regularly took part in the Semester cycle since 2011 and received several CSRs related to employment, many of which, such as the question of public works scheme or the tax burden on workers with low income persistently appeared in the CSRs for up to seven years. The analysed period between 2011 and 2018 coincides with the Eurosceptic government of Viktor Orbán being in power. In that period, Hungarian policymaking has become completely centralized and the political elites have nurtured an adversarial approach to EU’s involvement in national socio-economic governance. In the discussion on the Semester influence on employment policy, a special analytical emphasis is placed on the public works scheme and the Youth Guarantee. This chapter finds that the direct effect of the Semester on substantive change in employment policies is minimal. Hungary mainly ignored the Semester incentives to carry out employment reforms, and instead directly opposed change and followed through on governmental priorities. Hungary mostly resisted external pressure. The Orbán government offered sustained political opposition to any imposition of policies and intrusion into areas of national sovereignty. The only two instances in which the Semester was able to build sufficient external pressure for change relate to rather low-key, small-ticket items.
