Europeanization of Public Policy in Hungary: An Empirical Research

Abstract

Empirical research about the European Union’s impact on domestic public policy has been largely missing from academic research about Hungary. By presenting the results of analysis of three new databases, the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of the EU on Hungarian public policy between 2004 and 2018. The three aspects covered in this article are the Europeanization of law-making in the Hungarian parliament, the implementation of country-specific recommendations issued by the European Commission, and the similarities and differences between different governments in terms of handling infringement procedures. Our results show that the interaction between the Hungarian government (and in general, V4 governments) and the EU is much less conflictual at the policy level than what some high-profile political conflicts might suggest.