Abstract

The article gives an overview of the influence of European law on Hungarian administrative law in the field of environmental protection. It briefly discusses new institutions that were introduced with the implementation of the acquis communautaire and the Aarhus Convention. There were quite a few developments in general administrative law dealt with in the article that can even be labelled as spill over or gold-plating effects in connection with public participation. The analysis shows that following a good start in Hungary both case law and legislation became somewhat less favorable to public participation in matters relating to the environment. After procedural backlogs, the abolishment of independent environmental administrative authorities in 2015 on territorial and in 2016 on national level hindered environmental protection. Nevertheless, the CJEU’s case law also had an important influence on the codification of some Hungarian administrative court procedure rules, such as the loosening of the causality link requirement in the ambit of procedural errors or the creation of rules for mass procedures. Some signs give reason for hope in a gradual change of legal culture, such as the activity of the deputy ombudsman for the protection of the interests of future generations, the resilience of environmental NGOs as well as the rise of environmental law as a core subject in graduate legal studies.