Hungary: A political power play undermining resilience building

Abstract

Like its regional peers, Hungary weathered the pandemic’s first wave quite well, whereas it has been exceptionally hard hit by the second and the third waves. Unlike in most of its peers, however, the policy reactions have been quite hesitant, untransparent, and overshadowed by PM Viktor Orbán’s political power games. While in the first wave, the government introduced a strict lockdown, it failed to take quick action in both the second and the third waves even though the daily confirmed cases and the number of hospitalised patients were skyrocketing. New lockdown measures in the second wave were introduced on November 11 2020, weeks later than similar operations in the other Visegrád states. They were further tightened on March 8 2021 because the third wave was sweeping across the country. Although the government gave a strong political response by pushing through a harsh emergency law and the militarisation of hospitals and strategic businesses, the containment measures, health policies, and the socioeconomic response involved last-minute decisions, favouritism and untransparent policy-making.