Hungarian Parliament plans to extend state of emergency due to war in Ukraine

The Hungarian Parliament has called an extraordinary session to extend the state of emergency for another 180 days.

According to Telex, the initiative to convene a parliamentary session on 7 October and the draft resolution on extending the state of emergency in Hungary were submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén.

He said that the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine are still ongoing, so the extension of the state of emergency is necessary.

The government's draft proposes to extend the state of emergency for another 180 days, until 13 May 2026.

According to media reports, the Hungarian government had to initiate an extraordinary session of parliament because they simply forgot to submit the necessary draft in time.

Otherwise, a situation could have arisen in which the next state of emergency would have begun a few days after the end of the previous one, and all decisions adopted at that time would have automatically become invalid.

The state of emergency gives the Hungarian government broad powers: to suspend the application of certain laws, deviate from the provisions of the law and "take other measures in emergency situations".

Hungary has been under various states of emergency since 2016, when the government declared it due to the migration crisis. In 2020, the Hungarian parliament expanded the government's powers, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then, in mid-2022, the state of emergency was justified by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It should be noted that after the extension of the state of emergency, it will also cover the upcoming Hungarian parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place in April 2026.