The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence
Since March 2020, Hungary has almost continuously been under a type of special legal order, the state of emergency, which was first introduced to better protect against the COVID-19 epidemic and then in May 2022—following the amendment of the Fundamental Law—due to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Both th...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Political Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1542096/full |
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| author | Csaba Erdős Viktória Verebélyi László Knapp |
| author_facet | Csaba Erdős Viktória Verebélyi László Knapp |
| author_sort | Csaba Erdős |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since March 2020, Hungary has almost continuously been under a type of special legal order, the state of emergency, which was first introduced to better protect against the COVID-19 epidemic and then in May 2022—following the amendment of the Fundamental Law—due to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Both the crises caused by the epidemic and the armed conflict in the neighbouring country were de facto limited not only to the health and migration-humanitarian fields, but the Government made use of the exceptional legislative powers of the special legal order in almost all areas of life. Economic regulation was no exception: in 2021, the Government capped the retail price of fuel, and from February 2022 onwards, the retail price of several basic foodstuffs (including flour, sugar, milk, chicken breast and other meats, and later eggs and potatoes). The aim of this paper is to show the limits of one of the most powerful state interventions in the economy: the price maximisation. This can basically be determined on the basis of the relevant case law of three fora of legal protection—the Hungarian Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Court of Justice of the European Union. A comparison of the case law of the above-mentioned three courts also shows which legal protection mechanism is most effective against legislation restricting the free competition—at least in a period of special legal order. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-27ead56eb9ce444c871f1e0f3249f0fa |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-3145 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Political Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-27ead56eb9ce444c871f1e0f3249f0fa2025-01-31T06:40:17ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Political Science2673-31452025-01-01710.3389/fpos.2025.15420961542096The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudenceCsaba Erdős0Viktória Verebélyi1László Knapp2Department of Constitutional Law and Political Sciences, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Széchenyi István University, Győr, HungaryDoctoral School of Law and Political Sciences, Széchenyi István University, Győr, HungaryDepartment of International and European Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Széchenyi István University, Győr, HungarySince March 2020, Hungary has almost continuously been under a type of special legal order, the state of emergency, which was first introduced to better protect against the COVID-19 epidemic and then in May 2022—following the amendment of the Fundamental Law—due to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Both the crises caused by the epidemic and the armed conflict in the neighbouring country were de facto limited not only to the health and migration-humanitarian fields, but the Government made use of the exceptional legislative powers of the special legal order in almost all areas of life. Economic regulation was no exception: in 2021, the Government capped the retail price of fuel, and from February 2022 onwards, the retail price of several basic foodstuffs (including flour, sugar, milk, chicken breast and other meats, and later eggs and potatoes). The aim of this paper is to show the limits of one of the most powerful state interventions in the economy: the price maximisation. This can basically be determined on the basis of the relevant case law of three fora of legal protection—the Hungarian Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Court of Justice of the European Union. A comparison of the case law of the above-mentioned three courts also shows which legal protection mechanism is most effective against legislation restricting the free competition—at least in a period of special legal order.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1542096/fullstate of emergencyHungaryprice maximisationfundamental rightsSPAR-case |
| spellingShingle | Csaba Erdős Viktória Verebélyi László Knapp The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence Frontiers in Political Science state of emergency Hungary price maximisation fundamental rights SPAR-case |
| title | The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence |
| title_full | The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence |
| title_fullStr | The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence |
| title_full_unstemmed | The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence |
| title_short | The limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency—the Hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the Hungarian constitutional court’s, the Strasbourg court’s and the Luxembourg court’s jurisprudence |
| title_sort | limits of restrictions on free competition in the state of emergency the hungarian fuel and food retail price maximisation in the light of the hungarian constitutional court s the strasbourg court s and the luxembourg court s jurisprudence |
| topic | state of emergency Hungary price maximisation fundamental rights SPAR-case |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1542096/full |
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