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Towards the Dismantling of Freedom of
Information in Hungary
Judit Tóth Ph.D.,
Ass.prof, University of Szeged, Faculty of Law
Nóra Bán-Forgács, Research fellow, HUN-REN, CSS, Institute for Legal
Studies
Právny obzor, 107, 2024,
special issue, pp. 21–32.
Published online: 20.1.2025
https://doi.org/10.31577/pravnyobzor.specialissue.2024.02
Abstract. In this
article we aim to illustrate how the Hungarian government uses the public law
mandate to invoke pandemics, war in the neighbourhood or even the refugee crisis
as a pretext to restrict public spaces and to block data on government
operations and budgets. The example of Hungary illustrates the danger of what
happens when a fundamental right that was institutionally guaranteed, namely the
freedom of information (FOI) - which makes public life, public finances and
public decisions transparent -, deteriorates. The erosion of freedom of
information not only lead to the derogation of a fundamental right, but may also
contribute to the opacification of the functioning of the state, which leads to
the regression of public debates, declining control of public affairs, and
ultimately leads to the eradication of the constitutional rule of law. This
article covers legal developments in the area of freedom of information in the
recent decade, however, the content of this paper is tailored and shortened to
best fit in the structure of the special issue to be published.
Keywords: freedom of
information; pulbic data; data of public interest; transparency; ombudsman
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ISSN 2729-9228
(online)
ISSN 0032-6984
(print)
THEORETICAL REVIEW FOR ISSUES OF STATE AND LAW.
Právny obzor is peer-reviewed journal and is indexed in SCOPUS and HeinOnline database (INDEX TO FOREIGN LEGAL PERIODICALS).
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OPEN ACCESS