Brussels, 06/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 6 March, the Council of Europe called on the Hungarian government and parliament to delay the vote on the four amendments amending the Hungarian constitution, which it would like to have examined by the Venice Commission. In a press release, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, said that he is concerned about the compatibility of these amendments with the principles of the rule of law and international organisation.
If it were adopted, this would involve the fourth amendment made to the Hungarian Constitution. According to the Hungarian media, this umpteenth reform would prevent the Constitutional Court taking into consideration the decisions made by the Court before the entry into force of the Fundamental Law introduced at the beginning of 2011. The amendments in question also stipulate that the basis of family relations is marriage or the parent-child relationship. A denunciation of communism will also be included in the Constitution again.
The European Commission is following the situation closely. It says it is confident that Hungary will respect its past commitments, although it is prepared to “fully” use its powers again to verify that any new amendment voted for complies with European law. In 2011 and at the beginning of 2012, the European Commission began a whole range of procedures against Hungary and the laws emanating from the Constitution, which entered into force at the beginning of 2011, such as the law on the media, the law on the age of retirement for judges and the law on the Hungarian Central Bank. Some of these cases, such as the one on the law on the age of judges, have been more or less closed, while others are still pending. (MB/transl.fl)