Democracy and rule of law: The Hungarian goulash.

In middle of Budapest, on the bank of the Danube facing Buda, stands Hungary’s Parliament.

It is a spectacular building, a stunning  political ‘cathedral’ of a building designed to honour the gods of democracy and late 19th Century Mittel-European culture and identity rising from the ashes of crumbling empires.

The presently rather strained and difficult relations Hungary is experiencing with the European Union (‘EU) follow significant constitutional changes introduced over the last two to three years which appear to effectively abolish the rule of law and democracy in Hungary. The episode also helps to illustrate the inherent weakness but also the strength of the dialectic in the idea of Europe, refreshing our appreciation of the ideas of rule of law, democracy and brute power politics.