The Hungarian government has announced that it will bring an end to the controversial COVID-19 legislation it enacted in March.
The bill gave right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban the right to rule by decree. It provoked international condemnation as it had no end date, leaving the country to be dubbed as Europe’s only dictatorship. In an announcement made yesterday, the ‘state of emergency’ will come to an end on 20 June, along with Orban’s far-reaching powers.
Orban rebutted criticism of the law, stating it allowed him to respond effectively and quickly during the pandemic. Justice Minister Judit Varga said that criticism of the law were “unfounded attacks” and said she expected them to “apologize for waging a smear campaign.”
Hungary had a total of 3771 reported cases of COVID-10 with 499 deaths.
