The main opposition Socialists and the green Politics Can Be Different (LMP) will participate in the parliamentary debate on laws to derive from the new constitution that require two-thirds majority approval, daily Nepszabadsag said on Thursday.
Monika Lamperth, a senior Socialist official, told the paper that the ruling Fidesz party had created handcuffs with the new constitution. The two-thirds laws will put these on the next government’s wrists, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban putting the keys in his pocket, she added.
The Socialists refused to attend the debate on the new constitution but during the preparation of the two-thirds laws, they now must continually highlight the risks of Fidesz’s attempt to cement its power and restrict the manoeuvring space of future governments, Lamperth said. She called it particularly risky that Fidesz had included laws governing tax, pension and social affairs among the two-thirds laws.
LMP group leader Andras Schiffer told the paper that from a political aspect there was a significant difference between the new constitution and the two-thirds laws. LMP has not even thought of staying away from the debate on the laws.
Along with the Socialists, LMP refused to participate in the constitution’s debate.
Istvan Balsai, a Fidesz MP and head of parliament’s constitutional committee, told the paper that the government was obliged to submit the two-thirds draft laws for parliamentary debate. A debate on some of the several dozen bills should start before the summer recess, Balsai said, adding that the one on the election and voting rights would be among the first. He said among the bills were those on education, judiciary and prosecution, as well as the ones on family protection, tax burden distribution, the basic rules of the pension system and the preservation of national assets.
Laws regulating the Hungarian National Bank and financial supervisory authority PSZAF will also be among those requiring a two-thirds majority, Fidesz politicians told the paper.
