Opposition parties against epidemic response bill

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) and green LMP parties on Sunday said the government’s coronavirus response bill would grant the government special powers for an indefinite length of time.

DK deputy head Csaba Molnár told an online press conference that the party will not vote in favour of the bill, nor for parliament to discuss it in an extraordinary session.

Molnár said that so far, 16 European Union member states had introduced a special legal order in view of the pandemic. However, none of them have done so indefinitely or without specifying the areas the government’s special powers pertain to — that would be “unimaginable in a democratic state based on the rule of law”, Molnár said.

DK specified four “conditions” for the government to be granted such powers, he said. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “can see this as DK’s ultimatum,” he added.

The government’s special powers should be granted for a limited time, and be restricted to measures pertaining to the epidemic response and its impact on the economy, he said. The government may not be allowed to use the pandemic to exercise extraordinary powers at other areas, he said.