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With the removal of state subsidies and rapid privatization in 1991, Hungary was affected by a severe economic recession. The Antall government's austerity measures proved unpopular, and the Communist Party's legal and political heir, the Socialist Party, won the subsequent 1994 elections. This abrupt shift in the political landscape was repeated in 1998 and 2002; each electoral cycle, the governing party was ousted and the erstwhile opposition elected. Like most other post-communist European states, however, Hungary broadly pursued an integrationist agenda, joining NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. As a NATO member, Hungary was involved in the Yugoslav Wars. |
In 2006, major nationwide protests erupted after it was revealed that Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány had claimed in a closed-door speech that his party "lied" to win the recent elections. The popularity of left-wing parties plummeted in the ensuing political upheaval, and in 2010, Viktor Orbán's national-conservative Fidesz was elected to a parliamentary supermajority. The legislature consequently approved a new constitution, among other sweeping governmental and legal changes. Although these developments were met with and still engender controversy, Fidesz secured a second parliamentary supermajority in 2014 and a third in 2018. In the late 2010s, Orbán's government came under increased international scrutiny over alleged rule-of-law violations. In 2018, the European Parliament voted to act against Hungary under the terms of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. Hungary has and continues to dispute these allegations. |
Hungary was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Hungarian parliament passed a law granting the government the power to rule by decree, suspending by-elections and outlawing certain forms of medical disinformation. Parliament rescinded this law on 16 June 2020 due to the improving epidemiological situation in Hungary. |
== Geography == |
A flock of Racka sheep in the Fertő-Hanság National Park |
Hungary's geography has traditionally been defined by its two main waterways, the Danube and Tisza rivers. The common tripartite division of the country into three sections—''Dunántúl'' ("beyond the Danube", Transdanubia), ''Tiszántúl'' ("beyond the Tisza"), and ''Duna-Tisza kőze'' ("between the Danube and Tisza")—is a reflection of this. The Danube flows north–south right through the centre of contemporary Hungary, and the entire country lies within its drainage basin. |
Transdanubia, which stretches westward from the centre of the country towards Austria, is a primarily hilly region with a terrain varied by low mountains. These include the very eastern stretch of the Alps, ''Alpokalja'', in the west of the country, the Transdanubian Mountains in the central region of Transdanubia, and the Mecsek Mountains and Villány Mountains in the south. The highest point of the area is the Írott-kő in the Alps, at . The Little Hungarian Plain (''Kisalfőld'') is found in northern Transdanubia. Lake Balaton and Lake Hévíz, the largest lake in Central Europe and the largest thermal lake in the world, respectively, are in Transdanubia as well. |
The ''Duna-Tisza kőze'' and ''Tiszántúl'' are characterised mainly by the Great Hungarian Plain (''Alfőld''), which stretches across most of the eastern and southeastern areas of the country. To the north of the Plain are the foothills of the Carpathians in a wide band near the Slovakian border. The Kékes at is the tallest mountain in Hungary and is found here. |
Phytogeographically, Hungary belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF, the territory of Hungary belongs to the terrestrial ecoregion of Pannonian mixed forests. It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 2.25/10, ranking it 156th globally out of 172 countries. |
Hungary has 10 national parks, 145 minor nature reserves, and 35 landscape protection areas. |
Hungary is a landlocked country. |
=== Climate === |
Hungary has a temperate seasonal climate, with generally warm summers with low overall humidity levels but frequent rainshowers and cold snowy winters. Average annual temperature is . Temperature extremes are on 20 July 2007 at Kiskunhalas in the summer and on 16 February 1940 Miskolc-Gőrőmbőlytapolca in the winter. Average high temperature in the summer is and average low temperature in the winter is . The average yearly rainfall is approximately . |
Hungary is ranked sixth in an environmental protection index by ''GW''/''CAN''. |
== Government and politics == |
Hungary is a unitary, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. The Hungarian political system operates under a framework reformed in 2012; this constitutional document is the Fundamental Law of Hungary. Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of parliament; the fundamental principles of the constitution (as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the state structure, and the rule of law) are valid in perpetuity. 199 Members of Parliament (''országgyűlési képviselő'') are elected to the highest organ of state authority, the unicameral ''Országgyűlés'' (National Assembly), every four years in a single-round first-past-the-post election with an election threshold of 5%. |
Sándor Palace is the official residence of the President of Hungary |
Hungarian Parliament Building on the bank of the Danube in Budapest |
The President of the Republic (''köztársasági elnök'') serves as the head of state and is elected by the National Assembly every five years. The president is invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers: receiving foreign heads of state, formally nominating the Prime Minister at the recommendation of the National Assembly, and serving as Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Importantly, the president is also invested with veto power and may send legislation to the 15-member Constitutional Court for review. The third most significant governmental position in Hungary is the Speaker of the National Assembly, who is elected by the National Assembly and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. |
The Prime Minister (''miniszterelnök'') is elected by the National Assembly, serving as the head of government and exercising executive power. Traditionally, the Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party in parliament. The Prime Minister selects Cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them, although cabinet nominees must appear before consultative open hearings before one or more parliamentary committees, survive a vote in the National Assembly, and be formally approved by the president. The cabinet reports to parliament. |
In 2009 Hungary, due to strong economic difficulties, had to request the help of the IMF for about €9 billion (10.4 billion US Dollars). The debt-to-GDP ratio of Hungary had its peak in 2011 when it stood at 83% and decreased since then. According to Eurostat, the government gross debt of Hungary amounts to 25.119 billion HUF or 74.1% of its GDP in 2016. The government achieved a budget deficit 1.9% of the GDP in 2015. Hungary's credit rating by credit rating agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings stands at Investment Grade ''BBB'' with a stable outlook in 2016. |
On Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index Hungary's public sector has deteriorated from a score of 51 in 2015 to 44 in 2019 making it the 2nd most corrupt EU member at pair with Romania and behind Bulgaria. |
Following a decade of Fidesz-KDNP rule lead by Viktor Orbán, Freedom House's ''Nations in Transit 2020'' report reclassified Hungary from a democracy to a transitional or hybrid regime. According to the report, "the right-wing alliance... has gradually undermined the rule of law in Hungary and established tight control over the country’s independent institutions... it has steadily rewritten the Hungarian constitution, and eliminated democratic safeguards statutorily embodied in the Constitutional Court, Prosecutors Office, Media Authority, and State Audit Office...". It also limited parliamentary oversight, independent media, non-governmental organizations and academics, while consolidating power around the central government. |
=== Political parties === |
Since the fall of communism, Hungary has a multi-party system. The last Hungarian parliamentary election took place on 8 April 2018. This parliamentary election was the 7th since the 1990 first multi-party election. The result was a victory for Fidesz–KDNP alliance, preserving its two-thirds majority with Viktor Orbán remaining Prime Minister. It was the second election according to the new Constitution of Hungary which went into force on 1 January 2012. The new electoral law also entered into force that day. The voters elected 199 MPs instead of previous 386 lawmakers. The current political landscape in Hungary is dominated by the conservative Fidesz, who have a near supermajority, and two medium-sized parties, the left-wing Democratic Coalition (DK) and liberal Momentum. |
The democratic character of the Hungarian parliament was reestablished with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist dictatorship in 1989. Today's parliament is still called ''Országgyűlés'' just like in royal times, but in order to differentiate between the historical royal diet is referred to as the "National Assembly" now. The Diet of Hungary was a legislative institution in the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and the Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the Early Modern period. The articles of the 1790 diet set out that the diet should meet at least once every 3 years, but, since the diet was called by the Habsburg monarchy, this promise was not kept on several occasions thereafter. As a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, it was reconstituted in 1867. The Latin term ''Natio Hungarica'' ("Hungarian nation") was used to designate the political elite which had participation in the diet, consisting of the nobility, the Catholic clergy, and a few enfranchised burghers, regardless of language or ethnicity. |
=== Law and judicial system === |
highest court in Hungary |
The judicial system of Hungary is a civil law system divided between courts with regular civil and criminal jurisdiction and administrative courts with jurisdiction over litigation between individuals and the public administration. Hungarian law is codified and based on German law and in a wider sense, civil law or Roman law. The court system for civil and criminal jurisdiction consists of local courts (''járásbíróság''), regional appellate courts (''ítélőtábla''), and the supreme court (''Kúria''). Hungary's highest courts are located in Budapest. |
Law enforcement in Hungary is split among the police and the National Tax and Customs Administration. The Hungarian Police is the main and largest state law enforcement agency in Hungary. It carries nearly all general police duties such as criminal investigation, patrol activity, traffic policing, border control. It is led by the National Police Commissioner under the control of the Minister of the Interior. The body is divided into county police departments which are also divided into regional and town police departments. The National Police also have subordinate agencies with nationwide jurisdiction, such as the "Nemzeti Nyomozó Iroda" (National Bureau of Investigation), a civilian police force specialised in investigating serious crimes, and the gendarmerie-like, militarised "Készenléti Rendőrség" (Stand-by Police) mainly dealing with riots and often reinforcing local police forces. Due to Hungary's accession to the Schengen Treaty, the Police and Border Guards were merged into a single national corps, with the Border Guards becoming Police Officers. This merger took place in January 2008. The Customs and Excise Authority remained subject to the Ministry of Finance under the National Tax and Customs Administration. |
=== Administrative divisions === |
Hungary is a unitary state nation divided into 19 counties (''megye''). In addition, the capital (''főváros''), Budapest, is an independent entity. The counties and the capital are the 20 NUTS third-level units of Hungary. The states are further subdivided into 174 districts (''járás'') . The districts are further divided into towns and villages, of which 23 are designated towns with county rights (''megyei jogú város''), sometimes known as "urban counties" in English. The local authorities of these towns have extended powers, but these towns belong to the territory of the respective district instead of being independent territorial units. County and district councils and municipalities have different roles and separate responsibilities relating to local government. The role of the counties are basically administrative and focus on strategic development, while preschools, public water utilities, garbage disposal, elderly care, and rescue services are administered by the municipalities. |
Since 1996, the counties and City of Budapest have been grouped into seven regions for statistical and development purposes. These seven regions constitute NUTS' second-level units of Hungary. They are Central Hungary, Central Transdanubia, Northern Great Plain, Northern Hungary, Southern Transdanubia, Southern Great Plain, and Western Transdanubia. |
700px |
County''(megye)'' |
Administrativecentre |
Population |
Region |
25px Bács-Kiskun |
Kecskemét |
524,841 |
Southern Great Plain |
25px Baranya |
Pécs |
391,455 |
Southern Transdanubia |
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