Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics said in an article which appeared in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal that concerns over the contents of Hungary’s new basic law and the process for enacting it had been “speculative and inaccurate”.
Navracsics rejected claims that the process had been rushed.
“A new constitution has been a goal of successive Hungarian governments since 1989. Debate about it has been ongoing for the last 20 years [and] was a key pledge in this government’s April 2010 election campaign [...] All of Hungary’s opposition parties, and numerous expert and civil society groups, were invited to participate. The majority did so and provided invaluable input,” Navracsics, who is also the justice minister, wrote.
“In addition, the government conducted an unprecedented public consultation exercise. Questionnaires were sent to eight million voters. More than one million responses were incorporated in the drafting process,” he said.
He noted some people had also claimed that the new law eroded checks and balances of Hungary’s democratic institutions.
“It plainly does not. The constitution enshrines a classic separation of powers between Hungary’s legislature, executive and judiciary. It upholds parliamentary democracy and the rule of law.”
He said references to Christianity and the Holy Crown were not discriminatory.
“They are simply an acknowledgment of the importance that Christianity has played in Hungarian history [...] Such references are not unconventional in European constitutions and they place no limitation on people’s freedom to practice other faiths.”
Navracsics wrote that Hungary’s new rule book contained the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“It therefore declares the inviolability of human dignity, the right to freedom, the security of the person and the protection of private property,” he wrote.
“The constitution also highlights the significance of the protection of families and human life, but it does not tie the concept of “family” to marriage. Hence, single-parent families enjoy identical rights in the area of family support.”
The deputy PM insisted the new constitution would not change existing laws on the right to life.
“Hungary’s governing parties have agreed that the constitution should not amend in any way the 1992 Act on the Protection of Fetal Life. By protecting the life of the fetus, the new constitution confirms the rulings of the Constitutional Court over the course of the last two decades,” he wrote
On voting rights, Navracsics wrote: “The constitution will not decide the question of voting rights for Hungarian citizens who do not reside in Hungary. This question will be addressed in the course of the upcoming parliamentary debate on the Act on Electoral Procedure. Politicians in the governing party have already made it clear that they wish to follow the widespread European practice on this issue – namely, to grant voting rights in some form to everyone with Hungarian citizenship.”
