HONGRIE: LA "REVOLUTION PAR LES URNES"

In: Politique internationale: pi, Band 135

Abstract

It's been two years now that blustering Viktor Orban has retaken the reins of the Hungarian government, which he headed from 1998 to 2002. But this time things are different. His party, Fidesz, won a large majority in the 2010 elections, giving it a free hand to impose its program of radical changes. Hungarian institutions are undergoing a total revamp, including election procedures, the balance of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, relations between church and state, media and government, and local communities and the central power. All of these changes are written down in the new constitution, which took effect on January 1, 2012. The unspoken aim is to make it very difficult, or even impossible, for another change in power. This "revolution at the voting urn" did not fail to provoke an angry response from European authorities, who deemed it, on certain points, incompatible with the EU's fundamental values. An infringement procedure is under way-stay tuned for further developments. Adapted from the source document.