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.