Monthly newsletter Hungary – May 2022
Constitutive session of the Hungarian National Assembly
On May 2nd, almost exactly a month to the day after the elections, the constituent session of the Hungarian Parliament took place, and it was no coincidence that it fell on May 2nd. On this day in 1990, the first free Hungarian parliament was formed after the fall of the Iron Curtain, which is also enshrined in the Basic Law of 2011:
May 2, 1990 is considered the moment of regaining sovereignty and democracy in Hungary.
Formation of government – what is known so far?
The government is expected to be formed in the week starting May 16th. So far, little is officially known about the personnel of the Hungarian executive, only two politicians have already been mentioned in this context. Prime Minister Orbán told journalists at the beginning of April that he wanted Péter Szijjártó to also hold the position of foreign minister in the new government. When asked about János Lázár's political future, Orbán did not rule out the former Chancellery Minister returning to the government. Lázár was able to win 4 more votes in constituency 4 Csongrád than his challenger Péter-Márki Zay, who suffered a double embarrassment as the opposition's top candidate.
Rule of law mechanism – letter to the Hungarian government
There are new developments in the dispute over the rule of law procedure between the European Commission and Hungary. After the initiation of the rule of law procedure against Hungary was previously announced, EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn wrote a letter directly to the Hungarian government on behalf of the European Commission, thereby officially initiating the procedure against Hungary.
This sets in motion a six to nine-month process, at the end of which the Council of the EU, consisting of the heads of government of the member states, decides on the partial suspension of EU funding if a Hungarian breach of the rule of law is found in connection with its use. The process initially provides for a Hungarian statement on the points of criticism, after which the country is given the opportunity to take measures to remedy what the EU sees as existing grievances. In the subsequent Council vote, excluding Hungary, at least 15 countries with 65 percent of the EU population must agree whether and to what extent sanctions measures will be taken.
The Commission's letter particularly criticizes anomalies in public procurement, irregularities in the sale of agricultural land and deficiencies in cooperation with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga confirmed receipt of the letter via Facebook on the same day and promised a timely response within three months, as Hungary is always open to constructive and mutually respectful dialogue.
Price regulations continued until July
The consequences of the war in Ukraine are also noticeable in Hungarians' wallets. In March 2022, consumer prices were 8.5 percent higher than a year earlier, breaking another 15-year record after 7.4 percent in December, 7.9 percent in January and 8.3 percent in February, as the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) recently announced. The forecasts expect inflation to reach 8.6 percent in April. In order to dampen the impact of inflation on consumers, the Hungarian government announced that it would initially extend price caps for fuel and basic foodstuffs until July 1, 2022.
The price freeze applies to diesel and E10 gasoline, as well as to the following foods: granulated sugar, wheat flour, sunflower oil, milk and selected animal products. These government price caps are said to have reduced overall inflation by 3 to 4 percentage points so far. The government has also decided to increase Hungarian pensions because an inflation rate of up to 8.9 percent is expected for 2022 and this significantly exceeds the five percent pension increase from the beginning of the year. In doing so, the government is fulfilling an earlier promise and will... Increase pension payments by a further 3.9 percent from July 2022. This pension increase will also be paid out retroactively for the first half of the year.
Corona situation at the beginning of May
Since all special Corona regulations were lifted in Hungary on March 7, 2022, the topic has hardly been featured in the media headlines. In fact, despite a recent surge in virus-related deaths at the end of March, case numbers have continued to decline. At the beginning of May, an average of around 1,300 cases were registered daily, and the number of people who died from or with the coronavirus every day recently fluctuated between 20-30.
The fact that the public perception of the corona pandemic in Hungary is practically over is shown not only by the fact that only a few people wear a mask, but also by the vaccination campaign, which has almost come to a standstill since the end of March.
To the source:
The German-Hungarian Institute for European Cooperation is intended to provide a forum for academic, scientific and political dialogue between Germany and Hungary and to familiarize decision-makers and interested specialist audiences from both countries with topics, debates, processes, thought patterns and ideas from the other country. The aim is to achieve greater understanding, communication and constructive cooperation by objectifying the German-Hungarian discourse and thus renew our Europe together.
We would like to support this goal and publish excerpts with the kind permission of the authors. The complete issue can be found here as a PDF. The institute's website you can reach here.
