Assessment of bills on public consultation and on prosecuting corruption cases
On behalf of the Hungarian Government, Deputy Prime Minister Semjén submitted two bills to Parliament on 19 July 2022, in the afternoon of the last day of Parliament before it went into summer recess. Both bills claim to have been prepared “in the interest of reaching an agreement with the European Commission”, presumably related to the ongoing negotiations on Hungary’s RRF plan:
- Bill T/705 on the amendments of Act CXXX of 2010 on Lawmaking and on Act CXXXI of 2010 on Public Participation in Preparing Laws in the interest of reaching an agreement with the European Commission (emphasis added), and
- Bill T/706 on the amendment of Act XC of 2017 on the Code of Criminal Procedure in the interest of reaching an agreement with the European Commission (emphasis added).
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, together with Amnesty International Hungary, K-Monitor, and Transparency International Hungary prepared a joint assessment of the bills that include concrete recommendations that would, unlike the submitted bills, help bring about the stated aim of the proposed legislation: meaningful public consultation ahead of adopting laws and more effectively prosecuting cases of corruption.
The assessment is available here.