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Contents

Foreword by the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament
Preface: About the Birth of a Constitution
1. The Birth of the Fundamental Law
2. The National Avowal
3. The Foundation
4. The Enduring Legacy of the Historical Constitution
5. Freedom and Responsibility
6. The Impact of Economic Factors
7. On the Rights of Hungarians Living beyond the Country's Borders and the Right to Vote
8. Nationalities Living with Us
9. A Fundamental Law for the 21st Century
10. On the State
11. On the State of Emergency and the Situation of Local Authorities
In Place of an Afterword
Appendix: The Fundamental Law of Hungary and Preambles 1949-2011

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Preface

How does Hungary's new Fundamental Law - adopted on April 18, 2011 and in force as of January 1, 2012 - change the powers vested in the Constitutional Court? What values does the document embody and why? Have the rules on abortion really been tightened? Probably we are not entirely wrong in saying that in normal circumstances, these questions would hardly have attracted attention beyond the borders of the country. However, as it is, the changes listed above have been subject to a torrent of analyses and debates in the European Parliament, newspaper articles and opinion pieces by politicians. Some of these were written in a constructive manner, while others were less so - everyone has the right to do as they see best, all the more so because we all share European values. Meanwhile, it is hard to accept vehement criticisms when they are based on demonstrably erroneous interpretations, a lack of familiarity with the Hungarian political context, or simply on misconceptions. We have seen and heard a great number of such opinions recently. This is why, after its publication last autumn in Hungarian, this book is now being published in English, German, and French, with the primary aim of offering insight. The conversations and discussions in this book, each of which are focusing on a separate group of questions, take place between the interviewer, a journalist working for the Hungarian current affairs magazine Heti Válasz, and two governing party politicians who played a key role in the drafting process of the Fundamental Law. They will probably make it a little clearer what was included in or omitted from the new constitution, and why.

The interviews took place early summer in 2011, shortly after the new Fundamental Law was passed, and were published in Hungarian in autumn 2011. Since then, some of the laws referred to have changed; in other cases bills mentioned have became laws. However, none of this alters the philosophy and intent behind the new constitution. Thus, we ask the reader to consider our volume a kind of snapshot, and urge them to further delve into the subject.

This volume is not a piece of political propaganda. The reader may be able to discern from the differences in the views of the participants in these conversations which issues enjoy a broad consensus in Hungarian society and which do not. It may also become clear which subjects even people sharing centre-right views differ on. It is a fact that the new Fundamental Law practically leaves the public law structure established by the 1989 constitution untouched, or, at some points, even reinforces it. Nevertheless, however lastingly relevant it has been, that document had a number of shortcomings beyond its symbolic dimension. Undoubtedly, among the most discomforting of these was that although the text had changed fundamentally, the 1989 constitution still retained the title Act XX of 1949, a name given by the puppet government of the Soviet occupiers to a Stalinist law imposed on Hungary.

It is important to know that the constitution adopted more than 20 years ago was considered temporary even by the participants of the 1989 "roundtable revolution". This is demonstrated, among other things, by the wording: "In order to facilitate a peaceful political transition to a constitutional state, establish a multi-party system, parliamentary democracy, and a social market economy." This has become strange and anachronistic in the meantime, not only because the first free elections took place in 1990, but also because since then all former communist countries have adopted new constitutions, except for Hungary. The Constitutional Court has played a key role in keeping the institutional system operational for two decades. In its resolutions over the past 20 years, that Court has interpreted the 1989 constitution at a high standard - acknowledged by almost everyone - and many of these resolutions are recognisably present in the text of the new Fundamental Law. This is also why one must be cautious about branding the new law "reactionary" or "theocratic", for example, the passages about the protection of foetal life or marriage. Undoubtedly, the elections two years ago yielded a result unprecedented in the history of modern Hungarian democracy: a single political force gained a two-thirds majority, which empowered it to draw up a constitution. All of a sudden, the adoption of a new fundamental law had come within reach. Indeed, each successive governments regardless of political hue had endeavoured to do so since 1990, which in itself, also proves the need for correction. A new fundamental law was not passed in Parliament between 1994 and 1998 due to the lack of agreement within the ruling coalition of Socialists and Liberals. Later on, the growing distrust among the players on the Hungarian political arena made it impossible to carry out such plans. Two years ago, it became clear that Hungarian citizens had had enough of the corruption that had destroyed the system of democratic institutions almost completely, of the weakening of the state, and of immense debts. Not only did huge numbers of them turn their backs on the socialists who had been in government for eight years, but they also ousted from Parliament two parties that had played a key role in the transition to democracy, the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) and the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). These parties were replaced by a green party and one from the far right, both of them ardent critics of the state of affairs at the time. The parliamentary majority behind the present government responded to the crisis of the Hungarian democracy, among other things, by drafting and adopting a new constitution.

The author of this book does not believe that the new Fundamental Law will bring the worst or the best of all existing worlds to Hungary. But he does believe that its text is worth knowing and understanding because of its great significance. On the following pages we will make an attempt to assist in that endeavour.

February 2012 - Budapest
Bálint Ablonczy

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