parliament

The regulatory framework of the right to peaceful assembly in Hungary was radically reshaped by a new law enacted in October 2018 by the Parliament where the governing party holds a qualified majority enabling it to modify laws in accordance with its political will.

The Czech parliament has approved the establishment of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on hybrid threats. This expert platform will be dedicated to monitoring influence operations and issuing recommendations to Parliament.

The “Coronavirus Law” adopted by the Hungarian Parliament on March 30 did not only enable Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to govern by decree for an unlimited period of time, but also suspended elections and referendums. With the passing of the emergency law, the parliament had disempowered itself.

Estonian opposition MPs want to slash the timescale for responses to Riigikogu inquiries to government ministers, from a month, to four days, for the duration of the emergency situation at least.

The increasingly autocratic tendencies observed in Poland and Hungary during the COVID-19 crisis have alarmed the EU. With street protests currently banned, human rights activists fear that the pandemic will be used by national conservative governments to consolidate their power and undermine democracy and human rights.

The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government has conducted a calculated attack on the rule of law in Poland since it came into power in 2015, securing an overall majority in the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament.

The human rights of women and children in Poland are at risk. The government is exploiting the fact that due to social distancing restrictions women are unable to protest against a barbaric legislation which was passed in its first reading in Sejm

The eagerly awaited parliamentary elections in Slovakia are all over. Igor Matovič, the expected new Slovakian Prime Minister, became the clear winner with his anti-corruption movement “Ordinary People and Independent Personalities” (OĽaNO).

With the parliamentary elections approaching, Slovakia is facing an unprecedented situation of uncertainty. The elections are held after four challenging years, marked by the murder of the journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, and number of subsequent anti-government protests.

Estonian opposition leader Kaja Kallas (Reform Party) supports the idea of hiring assistants for members of the Riigikogu but said currently not enough work is being done to justify the need. She said aids should be competent and hiring relatives or friends should be avoided.