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    Analysis of the Venice Commission’s opinion on the new Hungarian Constitution and the reactions of the Hungarian government
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    
	The Venice Commission issued an opinion on the new Constitution of Hungary in June 2011. Due to the lack of an official translation and the misleading statements of government party representatives, the public may have a false impression on the content on the opinion. Therefore, the Eötvös Károly Institute, the HHC and the HCLU have prepared a joint analysis on the opinion and the related reactions of the governance.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    Government should take Venice Commission’s opinion into account
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    The opinion of the Venice Commission on the new Constitution of Hungary and the planned cardinal acts is on the agenda of the European Parliament tomorrow. The Hungarian Government declared publicly that it rejects the opinion of the Venice Commission, even though it considered the Commission as an important experts’ body before, e.g. in the case of the Slovakian language law. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee warns the Government that cardinal acts should be adopted in line with the opinion of the Venice Commission, otherwise Hungary will isolate itself from other democratic European states.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    Open letter to MPs to vote NO on Bela Pokol’s nomination for Constitutional Court justice
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    The HHC calls on the members of the Hungarian Parliament to not support the election of Béla Pokol as a new member of the Constitutional Court. Mr. Pokol has expressed his views about the separation of power and checks and balances numerous times. In a recent article, for example, Mr. Pokol claimed that “if in a given community a national or ethnic minority’s behavior leads to a higher crime rate then the principle of equal treatment might be discarded.”
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    HHC ready to provide legal aid in partnership with the Independent Police Trade Union
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    Reducing, curtailing or altering special pension schemes with a retroactive effect would violate the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights protecting the right to property. The HHC, in partnership with the Independent Police Trade Union, is ready to provide legal assistance to police officers if Parliament decides to retroactively revoke police officers’ right to an early pension.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    Sample of constitutional complaint for civil servants dismissed
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    In its decision issued on 15 February the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that the provisions on the unreasoned dismissal of civil servants are unconstitutional. However, the Court annulled the provisions only by 30 May 2011. The HHC stressed that those dismissed before 31 May 2011 may launch a constitutional complaint with the Constitutitonal Court, and has prepared a sample in order to help civil servants affected to submit their complaint.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    The Third Wave – The New Constitution
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    The Eötvös Károly Policy Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee have examined the draft Constitution of Hungary submitted to the Parliament on 14 March 2011. According to the NGOs the draft Constitution undermines democratic political competition and makes political change more difficult by transforming institutional structures, weakens the system of checks and balances and alters the framework of the political community by extending the right to vote. The draft Constitution decreases the level of protection of fundamental rights and significantly limits the enforceability of these rights through curbing the Constitutional Court’s powers. Since there is no information available on the planned content of the acts of Parliament requiring a two-third majority to be adopted, it may be stated that the adoption of the new Constitution will be only the beginning of the constitution-making process, not the end of it.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    Open letter to MEP József Szájer
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    Open letter to MEP József Szájer by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Eötvös Károly Institute concerning Mr Szájer’s blog post on the English translation of the  draft Constitution of Hungary.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    Documents submitted to the EP by the Hungarian Government concerning the draft Constitution are misleading
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    Three Hungarian NGOs, the Eötvös Károly Policy Institute, the HCLU and the HHC have submitted background materials to the leaders of the European Parliament groups concerning the draft Constitution of Hungary, such as the list of the most problematic substantive issues, a document drawing attention to those instances of erroneous or missing English translation of the draft text that concern the issues that are the gravest from the point of view of human rights and the rule of law, and comments on the background materials distributed to MEPs by the Hungarian Government.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    The new Constitution of Hungary is unacceptable due to the deficiencies of the constitution-making process
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    The Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee compiled a joint analysison the process of framing the new Constitution of Hungary. The three NGOs submitted their comments to the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters, which will form an opinion in the near future on the process of framing the new Constitution of Hungary. According to the analysis, the current way of designing the Constitution makes one doubt whether this document will be worthy of being called the Constitution of Hungary. The NGOs claim that the need for a new Constitution was not supported by adequate reasons, the new Constitution has been prepared in secret, the open public debate and the debate of experts over the text was missed and due to procedural rules of adopting it, the new Constitution will be the product of one political party.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    HHC: private pension law is unconstitutional
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    The Hungarian Helsinki Committee requested the Constitutional Court to repeal the legal provisions setting out that those remaining members in private pension funds lose their future state pension. The private pension law was debated by the Constitutional Court for the first time this week.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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    Constitutional Court annuls rules on unreasoned dismissal for civil servants
    
    
    
        
    
                                                
    The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has also petitioned the Constitutional Court regarding the unjustified dismissal of civil servants. In its decision issued on 15 February the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that the relevant provisions are unconstitutional. However, the Court annulled the provisions only by 30 May 2011. The HHC would like to stress that those dismissed before 31 May 2011 may launch a constitutional complaint with the Constitutitonal Court.
    
                        
    
        
    
        
    
    

    

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