Pandemic and Constitutional Degradation, a ‘Long Covid’ Effect. A Comparative Law Overview

Abstract

<p>Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. In times of crisis, ordinary instruments could not be sufficient and emergency norms and actions could be required. Those actions, though, in a constitutional state must always respect the fundamental and indisputable principles and equilibria proper of constitutional democracies. During the pandemic, this fragile balance has been put under unprecedented pressure worldwide, and, in some countries, the leaders even exploited the emergency to further tilt it, triggering a new or hastening an ongoing process of constitutional degradation. The present article aims to investigate the impact of the pandemic in three contexts of constitutional degradation (Hungary, Tunisia, Turkey) by an analysis of the emergency measures enforced in those countries. The evaluation of those measures will be conducted relying on the framework and the principles the Venice Commission recommended its members to respect during a state of emergency. The article will attempt to show how the disrespect of those principles and the resulting abuse of the emergency measures hastened this existing process of constitutional degradation and, despite the end of the pandemic, still produce in these legal systems a ‘long covid’ effect.<br></p>