Focus on Hungary

Back in June, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a new law, the so-called "Child Protection Act, that resulted in a major international controversy and infringement procedures launched by the European Commission over its measures targeting the LGBTQ+ community. Seeking to reinforce these provisions on the European stage, Viktor Orbán recently announced a referendum on the regulations. Is it about protecting children, or is it a tool for Viktor Orbán in his domestic and European political battles? Analysis.

The hacking of dissidents worldwide is even more widespread than we thought. This year’s largest cross-border investigative undertaking, the Pegasus Project, has revealed that at least 10 governments have used sophisticated Israeli spyware to gather information on human rights activists, independent journalists, and opposition politicians. The only EU member in the pool of offenders was Hungary. This might not be an unexpected development for most readers, but it is a further blow to both independent journalism and the sanctity of citizens’ privacy.

Four years ago, thousands spilled onto the streets of Budapest to keep the acclaimed Central European University (CEU) there following Prime Minister Orbán’s witch hunt against its 1991 founder, the Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros and the institutions related to him. Despite massive national and international support for CEU, the government used a complicated set of accreditation requirements to push the university to relocate its American-accredited programmes and the bulk of its operations to Vienna.

The 2022 general election will be the first in 16 years in Hungary that has not been decided before the campaign even starts: Viktor Orbán might score his fourth victory in a row, but due to the cooperation of six opposition parties, he might lose, too. One thing looks certain: neither side will have a two-thirds mandate in Parliament.

On 15 June, the majority of Hungarian MPs ­– representatives of the Hungarian Civic Alliance (FIDESZ) and the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik) – voted for a bill that contained several provisions added to the original draft act, originally intended to enhance the protection of children and tighten sanctions against pedophile offenders. These new provisions introduce an explicit, harsh ban on the "portrayal and the promotion of gender identity different from sex at birth, the change of sex and homosexuality" for persons under the age of 18.

In 2019, Fidesz suffered an unexpected defeat in local elections, triggering an unequal struggle between the national ruling party wielding its two-thirds constitutional majority and the now opposition-led municipalities. The conflict may come to a head during next year's parliamentary elections.

The example of how the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest has had its governance model recently transformed can help us understand the nature of the changes now underway that are reaching into the depths of the Hungarian societal structure.

What might be done with PM Orbán’s political system after a potential opposition victory in 2022, considering that it is built mostly on informal power and privatized economic-financial resources? These questions are currently being debated mainly as issues of public law. Unfortunately, little is being said about the sociopolitical requirements for the democratic transition the opposition so desires.

The pandemic has taken its toll on the theatre sector of Hungary, resulting in many freelance artists delivering pizza, developing other skills to find a job, living on their savings, and desperately missing performing for a live audience. Independent theatres, however, had already been struggling to survive long before the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

Hungary has become one of the woeful world leaders in COVID-19 mortality, with overwhelmed hospitals and figures skyrocketing to over 25 daily deaths per million people, compared to over five per million in the EU on average and less than three per million in the USA.