Civicus Monitor

The fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic peaked in Hungary at the end of January 2022.

As reported previously, protests have been ongoing since October 2020 when the Constitutional Tribunal (CT) ruled to impose a near-total ban on abortion.

Hungarian teachers have been protesting against low wages, exhausting working hours, and their general working conditions that they believe are not conducive to educating the next generations.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán’s State of the Nation address included a promise to remain neutral in the Russian war on Ukraine and maintain economic ties with Russia.

On 3rd November 2020, the Hungarian Government declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. On 10th November 2020, the Hungarian parliament passed a law authorising the government to use its emergency powers for 90 days.

As previously reported on the Monitor, Hungary broke with the centralised vaccine procurement system of the European Union by approving and purchasing Russian and Chinese vaccines that have not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency.

In Romania, just as in many other European countries, the decreasing number of coronavirus infections and hospitalisations led to the easing of COVID-19 related measures in late Spring, June 2021.

On 7th October 2021, the government controlled Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the Polish constitution trumps EU law, sparking concerns of a “Polexit” (Poland's exit from the EU).

University students and staff protested several times in Athens against the deployment of police forces, the so-called University Institutions Protection Teams (OPPI) on university campuses