The Prime Minister of Hungary, the ultranationalist Viktor Orbán, announced this Tuesday that, from midnight, the state of emergency due to the war on the Ukraine border comes into force.

“The government declares a state of emergency due to the war in Ukraine,” Orbán said in a video on the social network Facebook a few hours after Parliament approved a constitutional amendment that has opened the possibility of announcing that measure.

According to Orbán, the world is about to enter an economic crisis and he has reiterated that the country “must stay out of war, protect the safety of families, and for this, room for maneuver is necessary.” The Prime Minister has assured that the crisis is developing due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Brussels sanctions against Moscow.

The state of emergency means that the Government can issue decrees related to the matter, without consulting Parliament. The amendment approved today was proposed by the Hungarian government after the Russian invasion of Ukraine so that the country has “the necessary instruments to help, support and accommodate refugees, as well as to counteract and alleviate the negative economic effects”.

Hungary does not send weapons to Ukraine on the grounds that it does not want to get involved in the neighboring country’s war. The state of emergency due to the pandemic has been in force in Hungary for two years, although it should be lifted on the 31st by Parliament.

On the other hand, in the Central European country, since the fall of 2015, the state of emergency for mass migration has also been in force, which was introduced during the refugee crisis and has been maintained despite the fact that the number of immigrants entering Hungary fell. drastically already at the end of that year.

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