Hungary 2011

Hungary,  as  a  member  of  the  European  Union  has  a  democratic  system  with  an institutional setup meant to guarantee checks and balances by law. In practice, however, the  possibility  to  exercise  political  influence  over  these  institutions  has  increased significantly since the last elections in 2010 when the government obtained a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

In order to ensure independence some laws and appointments require the super majority of Parliament. When the parliamentary majority contains more than two-thirds of the parliamentary seats, the purported aim of the super majority requirement falls short of guaranteeing the non-partisan election of persons. It is merely up to the self-restraint of the ruling parties whether it takes into account the opinion of the opposition or not.

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Even though the regulations generally provide sufficient grounds for independence, the independence  of  control  institutions  is  questionable  in  practice.  Some  judges  of  the Constitutional  Court,  top  officials  of  the  State  Audit Offi ce,  the  Prosecution  and  the National Media Agency have an explicit political background. The Chief Judge is currently being dismissed in the middle of his term on the grounds of reorganization. The possibility of the re-election of heads of control institutions also weakens their independence.

Political parties remain the major corruption risk in Hungary. Campaign financing regulations do not ensure transparency and accountability which results in using illegal funds for party and campaign financing. This results in the misuse of public funds when it comes to procurements and questions all anti-corruption efforts of the government. Having a two-thirds majority in Parliament the change of the system depends only on the political will of the ruling parties.

Additional materials from this assessment