jtiblog
Blogsite of the Institute for Legal Studies
2025. October 07. 13:46
Réka Friedery
Ralf Roßkopf
Research Fellow, ELTE CSS ILS, Visiting Lecturer, Semmelweis University Dept. of Social Sciences; Professor of Law, Vice President and Professor, German Jordanian University (GJU), Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt
Germany has always been a country of immigration, and the integration of newly arrived people is an ever-present topic, albeit one that fluctuates in intensity. The former German government expressed the view that modernising the Citizenship Law was necessary because approximately 14 per cent of the population (around 12 million people) did not possess a German passport. It is estimated that 5.3 million of these people had been living in Germany for at least ten years, but only a small percentage of those eligible were able to become naturalised. The newly formed government of 2025 has not abandoned the path already initiated but has adapted it to align with its own priorities.
2025. September 25. 13:23
Rudolf Berkes
Project Researcher, ELTE Social Sciences Research Centre, Institute of Legal Studies
At a September 18, 2025 event, Hungarian officials and legal experts convened to discuss the national implementation of the European Union's landmark AI Act. The discussion, hosted by the Institute for Legal Studies, National Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and the Algorithmic Constitutionality Momentum Research Group, featured Deputy State Secretary for Technology Szabolcs Szolnoki and Research Professor Zsolt Ződi, who provided critical insights into the planned regulatory structure and the anticipated hurdles ahead. Supplemented by draft legislation, their comments paint a picture of a centralized, consultative approach that relies heavily on soft law to navigate the complexities of the new regulation. The event was moderated by Senior Research Fellow Kitti Mezei.
2025. September 01. 13:45
Aleksandra Mężykowska
Réka Friedery
Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Law Studies; ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies
The Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 triggered the largest forced migration in Europe since World War II. Millions of Ukrainians crossed international borders in search of safety, with the four Visegrad countries — Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — situated on the front line of this displacement. In contrast to the 2015 migration crisis, which was characterised by arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa largely bypassing Central Europe, the present crisis has had a direct impact on the V4 region from both a demographic and a political perspective. The General Report, produced under the Visegrad Grant project, examines how these four countries responded legally, institutionally and practically to the unprecedented arrival of Ukrainian refugees.
2025. July 14. 9:40
Rudolf Berkes
Project Researcher, HUN-REN Social Sciences Research Centre, Institute of Legal Studies
On 29 May 2025, the Algorithmic Constitutionalism Lendület/Momentum Research Group gathered for its inaugural in-house conference to discuss the seven manuscripts currently under preparation as part of the project. These working papers reflect on the impact of artificial intelligence on three fundamental rights - right to fair trial, freedom of speech, and right to a healthy environment. The working papers were reviewed by invited expert colleagues who presented their recommendations during the discussions of the early results. The present report aims to summarize the different strands of academic endeavours our Research Group is currently pursuing.
2025. June 27. 9:13
Boldizsár Szentgáli-Tóth
Senior Research Fellow, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Legal Studies
an increasingly extensive discourse has unfolded about the possibilities of using these tools in the public sector. Two main directions of thinking in this area crystallized: on the one hand, the examination of possible areas of application in court work, and on the other hand, in public administration. The analysis of parliamentary perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI) can be linked to the latter circle and can be evaluated as a branch of it.
2025. March 17. 8:52
Rudolf Berkes
Project Researcher, HUN-REN Social Sciences Research Centre, Institute of Legal Studies
On March 5, 2025, the GENEZIS Excellence Student Workshop of Pázmány Péter Catholic University, in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Law at PPKE JÁK and the Institute of Legal Studies at HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, organized a panel discussion examining the environmental and constitutional law issues related to the application of artificial intelligence (AI). The speakers agreed that, similar to environmental protection, the regulation of AI applications also adopts a human-centered approach, thus there are fundamental directions and ethical principles that are considered universal worldwide.
2024. December 27. 8:58
Nóra Bán-Forgács
Research Fellow, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Legal Studies
Emergency powers are introduced into legal systems under extraodinary circumstances, such as war, climate catastrophe, global pandemic, such as COVID-19, to control the legal system under extraordinary pressure. Emergency (or extraordinary) power of the state is used for a period of time to prevent damage in the society. Different constitutions regulate emergency powers differently. Usually a feature of extraordinary legal system is the constitutional limitation on fundamental rights, including freedom of information. I argue that in Hungary the limitation on freedom of information served as a pretext to halt the free access of information.
2024. December 20. 15:04
Nóra Bán-Forgács
Research Fellow, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Legal Studies
The role of Ombudsman in a changing world with crisis is one of the most contested topics in contemporary constitutional discourse. The increasing literature is concerned with a “permanent stage” of crisis and its consequences. Some countries, choose to introduce a permanent extraordinary legal order to handle the crisis, others are curtailing their democratic institutions.
2024. September 02. 14:04
Ernő Várnay
Nóra Chronowski
Research Professor; Research Professor, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Legal Studies
On 12 December 2023, the Hungarian Parliament introduced a new article into the Act on the Constitutional Court (see Act CLI of 2011, § 38/A, as amended by Act LXXXV of 2023, Art. 3) and created a new competence called "Decision on a preliminary EU interpretative opinion". The authors analyse here the deeper meaning and potential of the new competence, especially in the light of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It seems that the new interpretive power is intended to serve the constitutional European judicial dialogue, but it does not seem to be a suitable instrument either procedurally or substantively.
2023. May 15. 7:39
Boldizsár Szentgáli-Tóth
Bettina Bor
Senior Research Fellow; Project Researcher, CSS ILS
On 30 and 31 March 2023. a prestigious international conference was held in a hybrid format, online and in-person at the Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies, as the main conference of an international research project investigating the Covid-19-related adaptations of the electoral frameworks of the four Visegrád countries (IVF 22120065), funded by the International Visegrád Fund). The conference was also supported by a project of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences „Resilience of the legal system in post-COVID societies: risks and opportunities”.
2023. May 03. 7:56
Domonkos Polonyi
Law Student, ELTE Faculty of Law
The date of the upcoming local elections has recently been moved both in Hungary and Poland. At first sight, the two cases seem to be very similar to each other, but upon closer scrutiny it turns out that there are significant differences both to the legal and the factual background that led to the changes of the election days. In this article, I will compare the two situations, with special attention to constitutional and political aspects, while also keeping a close eye on how it is all connected the to Covid-19 pandemic.
2023. April 11. 19:17
Mónika Mercz
Professional Coordinator, Public Law Center of Mathias Corvinus Collegium
It seems like we have to choose what is worth more to us as a society: the well-being of children or keeping our private data safe? On 29 of July, 2022, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) adopted a Joint Opinion on the Proposal for a Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. Its aim is to impose obligations when it comes to detecting, removing, reporting and blocking known and new online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). While child sexual exploitation must be stopped, the EDPB stated that only strictly necessary and proportionate information should be retained in these cases, as the right to private life and data protection shall be upheld. They believe the use of artificial intelligence (hereinafter: AI) to scan users’ communications could also generate errors, which may lead to false accusations.
2022. November 14. 10:41
Paweł Daroszewski
Law student, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Poland
On October 19 this year, a draft act to amend the Electoral Code and certain other acts with the number UD457, submitted by the Minister of Digital Affairs, appeared in the list of legislative works of the government. The most important change to be introduced by the bill under discussion is the establishment of the Central Register of Voters. On the basis of the currently binding Electoral Code, Poland has a decentralized voter registration system. Currently, each municipality is obliged (Article 18 § 11 of the Electoral Code) to keep a register of voters, which includes persons entitled to vote permanently residing in a municipality, and to draw up the electoral roll before each election (Article 26 § 10 of the Electoral Code), which contains a list of persons entitled to vote in voting circuit within the municipality. One of the reasons for the fiasco of correspondence voting in the presidential elections in Poland ordered on May 10, 2020 was the failure to submit the election lists to the Polish Post Office, which, according to the Act of April 6, 2020, was to be responsible for organizing the voting. The current voter registration system will be completely changed if the draft act presented by the government enters into force.
2022. November 04. 11:11
Zsolt Szabó
associate professor, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
Just about one month before the G20 summit, another important global event took place silently in Bali: the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) met for the fifth time between 4-7 October on the Island of Gods. As probably known by the readers, the WCCJ, together with the Venice Commission and ten regional groups of constitutional courts, is one of the most important formats of global constitutional dialogue between constitutional judges. Operating since 2009, it unites today 119 constitutional courts and equivalent institutions from all continents. Notable outsiders are – for various reasons – the UK, the USA China, and since 5th October, Russia, who terminated its membership on the opening day of the congress. According to its statute, the WCCJ is committed to promote “constitutional justice – namely constitutional review including human rights case-law – as a key element for democracy, the protection of human rights and the rule of law.” A solemn, all-in-one declaration that no civilized human being can reject.
2022. October 27. 13:25
Luca Sevaracz
PhD student, SZTE Faculty of Law
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, all four countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) of the so-called Visegrád Group (also known as Visegrád Four or simply V4) have held their elections. In the following, I shall shortly introduce the postponed Polish presidential elections and the Czech and Hungarian parliamentary elections in the spirit of neutrality of public authorities in the election campaign. Moreover, the Slovakian parliamentary elections held shortly before the rising of the global pandemic will be also mentioned.
