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Posted by
Olog-hai
on Sat Apr 9 14:23:37 2011, in response to Hungary swinging further right with new constitution, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Apr 5 12:56:35 2011.
edf40wrjww2msgDetailOT:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d Problems still ongoing. Point made here is that a constitution must be above horse-trading. Recaps of all the main problems.
Economist
Hungary's new constitutionGoulash soupThe new constitution is being rushed through with limited consultation
Apr 7th 2011 | BUDAPEST | from the print editionTHE Hungarian constitution needs renewing. Today’s document is a legal mishmash, part dating from the communist era, part from 1990 when the Soviet block collapsed and the rest from last year, when the right-wing Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority. But Viktor Orban, the Fidesz prime minister, has a problem.
A constitution ought to be above political horse-trading. Input from all parties should give it greater legitimacy, making it harder to alter. Yet over the past year, the government has marginalized and alienated the opposition. Formerly independent institutions have been scrapped, hobbled or taken over by placemen. New bodies such as a media council have appeared—and too often, their members are all Fidesz nominees.
The Socialists, the green-liberal LMP and the far-right Jobbik are all demanding more consultation and a referendum. But since the draft of the constitution has been under discussion since last summer, the government has given lawmakers just a month’s debate. It will be voted through on April 18th. President Pal Schmitt, an emollient Fidesz loyalist, is expected to sign it on April 25th.
Rather than negotiate with the opposition, the government has distributed questionnaires about the constitution to eight million voters. It has promised to take note of their answers. Fidesz’s two-thirds majority gives it the right to change the constitution, says Jozsef Szajer, a Fidesz MEP who partly drafted the new version on his iPad. Moreover, he adds, referendums on constitutional matters are not permitted.
The Socialists and the LMP (but not Jobbik) are boycotting the process. A gross abnegation of responsibility to their voters, says Szajer. But Fidesz is reaping what it sowed: when Ferenc Gyurcsany, the former Socialist prime minister, spoke in parliament, Fidesz MPs walked out. The government wanted the LMP to take part in the drafting process, insists Tamas Boros, of Policy Solutions, a think-tank, as that would have given the new constitution more legitimacy.
The document is a mixed bag of history and modernity. Provisions on Christianity, the holy crown, connections to ethnic Hungarians living abroad, the definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman and repeated references to Hungary’s historical constitution are all designed to keep the right happy. Greens will welcome a commitment to preserve the environment and biodiversity. Human trafficking is outlawed. Public debt will be limited to 50% of GDP. The name Hungary replaces the Hungarian Republic.
The draft constitution draws on the European Union’s charter of fundamental rights. But unlike the charter, it does not specifically outlaw discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. Szajer says that this is covered by the phrase “any other circumstance whatsoever”, but gays and liberals are unhappy. Neighboring countries also fret that references to ethnic Hungarians abroad may look irredentist and could open the way for those with dual citizenship to get the vote.
Earlier this year Tibor Navracsics, the deputy prime minister, asked the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body, for an opinion. Its reply was that the government had shown a lack of transparency, failed to consult adequately with the public or the opposition and rushed the process. But Fidesz is set on pushing the constitution through.
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