March 12, 2020 / By mobanmarket
Council of Europe to review changes.Hungary under scrutiny over changes to the constitution
Hungary is facing renewed scrutiny from the European Union and the Council of Europe, Europe’s democratic watchdog, after its parliament approved far-reaching changes to the country’s constitution on Monday (11 March).
The presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament joined the Council of Europe in warning that the amendments could threaten the rule of law.
The 14 pages of amendments change the constitutional court’s powers, define marriage, restrict political advertising, and adjust how religious groups are recognised. They also annul decisions made by the constitutional court before 2012.
The Hungarian parliament’s move is stoking debate about what powers the EU should have to sanction member states deemed to be undermining democracy.
Four foreign ministers – from Germany, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands – wrote to the European Commission last week (7 March) saying that “a new and more effective mechanism to safeguard fundamental values in member states is needed”.
Their letter did not specifically refer to Hungary, but drew an immediate written response from János Martonyi, Hungary’s foreign minister. Westerwelle discussed the changes on Tuesday (12 March) with Hungary’s President János Áder, one of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s oldest and closest allies. A German official described the meeting as “open and in parts quite adversarial”. The issue also came up in talks between Áder and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose Fidesz party belongs to the Conservative European People’s Party in the European Parliament, will present the case for the changes in Brussels today, before the start of a two-day summit of EU leaders. Liberal, socialist and Green MEPs have asked the European Parliament’s president, Martin Schulz, to raise concerns when he speaks to leaders at the summit. Schulz said on Monday that he had “serious doubts” about the amendments.
The EU treaty empowers the EU to strip a country of its voting rights, and on Tuesday (12 March), Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament, said the Commission should start the review process.
The Parliament itself has the power to initiate such a process, but an official said that such a move is unlikely until the legal-affairs committee issues a report next month on the situation in Hungary.
The committee began work last year after the Fidesz-controlled parliament adopted a wholly re-written constitution in January 2012.
Significant parts of the constitution were subsequently adjusted under pressure from the EU and the Council of Europe and at the demand of European and Hungarian courts.
Thorbjørn Jagland, the Council of Europe’s secretary-general, said last week that some of the amendments re-introduced legal provisions annulled by the constitutional court last year.
He said that the return of these clauses “gives the impression that the government is willing to use the two-thirds parliamentary majority to overrule the constitutional court”.
Jagland had asked for the vote to be postponed until his legal team could assess them. The parliament ignored him. The Hungarian government has, however, said that it will co-operate with the Council of Europe and the Commission.
Hungary says that the amendments were required by a constitutional-court ruling. It also says that, though pre-2012 rulings would be annulled, they would remain in legal effect. It argues too that the constitutional court would be strengthened rather than weakened.
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