“The protection of Hungary’s self-identity and its Christian culture is the duty of all state organizations” says one of the new provisions of the 7th Amendment that was adopted on 20 June to change the country’s Fundamental Law of 2011. This article will highlight the legal, cultural and political background to this with possible consequences. […]

by Gábor Halmai* On 5 June the Hungarian Constitutional Court issued two injunction decisions, almost identical in their texts, in which the judges suspending the constitutional review procedures against two laws enacted in early April, 2017 by the Hungarian Parliament, outside the normal legislative process. The first, an amendment to the Act on National Higher […]

Europe, as a distinct political and economic body as well as a collection of separate states, is facing constitutional challenges from within and without. Brexit, Catalonia, Poland, Hungary and Romania – as well as events within the European Union itself – all present challenges to European principles of constitutionalism. On Thursday, January 25, 2018, the […]

On 26 April the European Parliament held a debate on Hungary. In his opening remarks First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said that the Commission shares the worries and concerns of many people within and outside the EU regarding recent developments in Hungary, and about the compatibility of certain actions of the Hungarian authorities with EU law […]

On 28 March the Hungarian government tabled an amendment to the Act on National Higher Education in Parliament. Even though the draft is formulated in normative terms, the only targeted institution is the Central European University (CEU), founded by George Soros, one of the main enemies of the Viktor Orbán’s ‘illiberal state’. Michael Ignatieff, former professor […]