The establishment of one-man rule in the heart of Europe has enraged civil libertarians and Hungary’s opposition leaders, who see the move as a power grab by Orbán and accuse him of taking advantage of the Coronavirus pandemic to establish an elective dictatorship and to kill off the country’s democracy.  Pressure is mounting on the European Union to take action against Hungary for passing sweeping emergency measures that will allow populist leader Viktor Orbán to rule by decree indefinitely. WATCH: Henry Ridgwell’s video reportSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban votes the law granting the government special powers to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis at the Hungarian parliament in Budapest, March 30, 2020.“Parliament can, technically vote to end this extra power,” says Umut Korkut, a politics professor at Scotland’s Glasgow Caledonian University, “but Orbán’s party Fidesz has a two-thirds majority. The Constitutional Court can investigate the legality of any governmental decrees Orbán produces, but again, he has made sure it is packed full of judges chosen by his party. It has been a long time since the court last voted against the government. The legislation therefore effectively delivers the country to Orbán in full, without any checks and balances.” Since his reelection in 2010, civil libertarians have denounced Orbán for initiating a concerted erosion of democratic checks and balances, including the curbing of judicial independence, the politicization of the civil service and state interference in media and civil society. The emergency measure has to be seen, say his critics, as a continuation of his effort to accrue more power. “He moved quickly to consolidate power now because the public health crisis provides the perfect opportunity to take advantage of Hungarians’ sense of vulnerability, fear, and anger,” according to Markos Kounalakis, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank in Stanford, California. The European Commission, which has clashed with Orbán before over rule-of-law issues, said it was monitoring developments in Hungary and conceded it may now need to take action against Hungary. A Commission spokesman said it was carrying out a “mapping exercise” of member states to examine whether any laws adopted during the crisis comply with EU and international laws.  “There is particular concern about the case of Hungary and I can tell you that we will not hesitate to take further action if this is deemed necessary,” the spokesman said.  FILE – Outgoing president of the European Council Donald Tusk speaks after he was elected as president of European People’s Party during the European Peoples Party (EPP) congress in Zagreb, Croatia, Nov. 20, 2019.Former European Council president Donald Tusk, who now heads the largest political grouping in the European Parliament,FILE – European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 6, 2019.But the Commission formal response has not gone beyond political statements expressing alarm, some of which do not specifically name Hungary even. They also contain no suggestion of possible economic punishment. Brussels has ducked taking sharp action before against Hungary over rule-of-law breaches, held back by, say observers, by its reluctance to confront member states when they step out of line. In the past, he has also had the support of like-minded populist nationalists leaders in neighboring states in Central Europe — although this time they have also expressed disapproval at what they see as an over-reach. One punitive step the EU could take, says Renata Uitz of the Comparative Constitutional Law program at the Vienna-based Central European University, is to block Hungary from accessing any money  from a €861 million fund set up to assist member states to curb the pandemic.  “Conditioning access to EU funds based on member states’ respect for the founding values of the European Union has never been more urgent — and has never been more achievable. Otherwise, the Union will continue to support a regime that has already demonstrated its commitment to abusing the unlimited emergency powers it arrogated,” she says. 
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