Legislation in Hungary

Abstract

This chapter argues that as in many other aspects of public law after 2010 in Hungary, the enacting of legislation is characterized by formalism, disregard of substantive considerations of any components of legisprudence, and overwhelmed by political will. Hungary does not follow generally accepted trends in legislation; impact assessment, consultation, parliamentary deliberations, evidence-based legislation, use of ICT and transparency. Formal and material quality is being buried deep by Hungarian illiberalism. Achieving quality in legislation is not a priority, existing rules are not observed; material quality, i.e. constitutionality of laws, is compromised by the illiberal and partisan constitution adopted in 2011 and the biased Constitutional Court. The creation and consolidation of the Hungarian illiberal constitutionalism, the FL and the new illiberal approach to legislation originated in the second government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz political party. In the illiberal setting, the wisdom of the sayings are forgotten: ‘the less is sometimes more’ when considering the quality of legislation and ‘good things take time’ when thinking of impact assessment, deliberation, and consultation.

Keywords: legislation, consultation, impact assessment, Hungary, illiberal