The Twilight of Parliament - Parliamentary Law and Practice in Hungary in Populist Times

Szente, Zoltán (2021) The Twilight of Parliament - Parliamentary Law and Practice in Hungary in Populist Times. International Journal of Parliamentary Studies, 1 (1). pp. 127-145. ISSN 2666-8904

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Abstract

This study is based on the assumption that if there really has been a transition to authoritarian rule in Hungary since 2010, this should also have had a significant impact on Parliament. The article reviews changes in parliamentary law and practice, examining whether they have indeed aimed at concentrating power and instrumentalizing the legislature. In doing so, it analyses the key organizational and operational reforms of the National Assembly. The final conclusion of the study is that 2010 was an important milestone in the very recent history of Parliament, and it evaluates some of the subsequent changes as unconstitutional, while it also argues that some new trends in parliamentary law and practice have destroyed the quality of the activities of the Parliament. As a consequence, the Parliament only formally performs its constitutional functions, and plays a marginal role in the constitutional system, having a number of institutional and operational features that are incompatible with the standards of modern constitutional democracies

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