Hungary is no longer a democracy, Poland is about to go down the same path, democracy in the Balkans is eroding because of Chinese and Russian influence, and the EU is doing nothing to stop it all, according to the NGO Freedom House's latest Nations in Transit report, out Wednesday.
In the study, which covers 29 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia, the authors describe "a stunning democratic breakdown," saying that there are "fewer democracies in the region today than at any point since the annual report was launched in 1995."
According to the report's methodology, Hungary is now a "hybrid regime," having lost its status as a "semi-consolidated democracy" due to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's continued assaults on the country's democratic institutions.
The adoption of an emergency law that allows the government to rule by decree indefinitely, brought in after the coronavirus pandemic struck, "has further exposed the undemocratic character of Orbán's regime," the authors wrote, adding that "Hungary’s decline has been the most precipitous [they have] ever tracked."
Poland isn't far behind, according to the report, which says there have been spectacular attacks on the judiciary by the ruling Law and Justice party.
It seems that Hungary is having a rather dramatic democracy breakdown, and it makes sense too; recently Hungary also silently passed a bill which would also attempt to kill off trans rights and to ban legal recognition of transgender people. I'm not at all surprised that Hungary would experience a breakdown on this level, especially since the recently leader, Viktor Orban recently came to power. Alot of the world is in a backsliding democracy, including Brazil and possibly India, the largest democracy in the world, in the future.
So, NSG, what are your thoughts on this? Did you see this coming or not, and what's your opinion on what's happening in Hungary.
