and the right to elect the Constitutional Court president was transferred from the court to the parliament. These changes enabled the nomination of justices loyal to Fidesz and, by 2013, pro-government justices held the majority. Additionally, the court’s authority to review budget-related laws was annulled, allowing the government to implement e

After coming to power, Orban’s government started to weaken horizontal accountability by undermining judicial independence. In 2010, a key legislative amendment allowed justices of the Constitutional Court to be elected by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, replacing the previous model that sought to find consensus about nominations among all p

This type of threat inflation has fuelled polarisation, solidified Orban’s base and served as a reason to adopt various “emergency” measures. This process of executive aggrandisement – the concentration of power and takeover of state institutions – eliminated the checks and balances from the system that could have held the executive accou