Hungary’s Orban seeks sweeping new powers in virus fight

Hungary’s parliament was on Monday expected to endorse a bill giving nationalist premier Viktor Orban sweeping new powers he says he needs to fight the new coronavirus pandemic.

Critics at home and abroad have condemned the ‘anticoronavirus defence law’, saying it gives Orban unnecessary and unlimited power in a ruse to cement his leadership rather than battle the virus.

Orban’s government proposed the bill to parliament earlier this month to enable wide ruleby-decree powers to tackle the virus under an extended state of emergency.

According to the draft posted on the parliament website on March 20, the bill would enable the government to indefinitely extend the state of emergency and its associated powers of rule by decree, removing the current requirement for MPs to approve any extension.

It also introduces jail terms of up to five years for anyone spreading ‘fake news’ about the virus or the measures against it, stoking new worries for press freedom.

Since taking power in 2010, the self-styled ‘illiberal’ nationalist has transformed Hungary’s political, judicial and constitutional landscape.

The 56-year-old has frequently clashed with European institutions, NGOs and rights groups with Brussels suing Hungary for ‘breaching’ EU values – charges fiercely denied by Budapest.

Orban has given criticism of the law short shrift, appealing to ‘European moaners’ to let Hungary defend itself against the virus. His justice minister, Judit Varga, told foreign reporters in a briefing on Friday that critics of the bill were ‘fighting imaginary demons and not dealing with reality’.

Opposition MPs last week refused to let the government fast-track the bill through parliament. But it is almost certain to be made law when it comes before MPs on Monday as Orban’s Fidesz party enjoys a two-thirds majority.

Agnes Kunhalmi, a lawmaker for socialist opposition party MSZP, urged Orban to ‘not perpetrate political games against the opposition’ and add an expiration date to the bill.

“There is concern that the government will continue its conservative-liberal practices, which will lead to an even deeper crisis,” she told AFP. —