[ad_1]
Freedom House, based in the United States, declares in its annual report “Nations in Transit” that Hungary is now a “hybrid regime … in a” gray zone “between democracies and true autocracies.”
The Balkan states of Serbia and Montenegro have also lost their democratic status for the first time since 2003, thanks to many “years of increasing state occupation, abuse of power” and the “heavy-handed tactics” of their respective presidents, Alexander Vučičius and Milas Djukanovičius, according to the report.
Hungary, a member of the European Union, which was the “leader of democracy” in 2005, is experiencing the largest decline in any Freedom House observation.
In 2020, Hungary became the first country to fall into two categories of the organization and “fall entirely from the group of democracies,” according to the report.
“Hungary can no longer be considered a democracy today,” said Freedom House, noting that the Orban government “no longer claims to respect democratic institutions.”
“By centralizing power, distorting electoral opportunities, taking over a large part of the media and attacking critical civil society organizations since 2010, Orban took steps in 2019 to consolidate control in new areas of public life, including education and the arts, “the report said.
The COVID-19 emergency law, passed in March, which allows the government to rule indefinitely, “further exposed the undemocratic nature of the Orban regime.”
A Hungarian government spokesman rejected Freedom House’s rating and called the organization the “Soros Network Fist”, citing US billionaire George Soros, whom Orban has long accused of interfering in Hungary.
Freedom House was once famous as a bipartisan human rights organization. After receiving Soros’ funds, they declined, Zoltan Kovacs wrote on Twitter. “Anyone who does not conform to his liberal approach is looked down upon.”
Freedom House also reported a “staggering democratic collapse” in the 29 countries assessed from Central Europe to Central Asia, noting that “there are now fewer democracies in the region than at any other time since the 1995 annual reports began.”
[ad_2]
