In a speech in Parliament on Tuesday, Róbert Répássy, Minister of State at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, said that the main part of the legislative package related to the Fourth Amendment of the Fundamental Law includes guarantee provisions for the functioning of the courts and the Constitutional Court.

The Minister of State said that the President of the National Judicial Office (NJO) needs the agreement of the National Judicial Council when ruling on transfer of cases from one court to another and for selection of the presiding court. He said that the President of the NJO can make rulings on the transfer of cases from one court to another for certain groups of case: at the request of a court, court of appeal or the Prosecutor General; and if the number of cases in the district from which transfer is proposed has exceeded the national average over a six-month period.

A group of cases may only be transferred to a court where the number of cases over the same time period has been below the national average. He stressed that there will be the possibility for legal remedy for disputed instances within this system, which is similar to that existing in other countries.

In addition to this, a proposal linked to the amendment of the Fundamental Law which came into effect on 1 April makes it impossible for the President of the NJO to be re-elected.

According to the proposal, the President of the Curia, the Prosecutor General and the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights can request review by the Constitutional Court.

The Minister of State added that an amendment to the rules related to the Constitutional Court define new procedures for ex ante and retrospective constitutional review.

He also reported that in the interest of making the Constitutional Court’s procedures more transparent, legislators may ask for a public hearing from the Court, in addition to its written opinion.

Social circumstances should not be a barrier to someone acting on their right to submit a constitutional complaint. The Minister of State for Justice said that abolition of compulsory legal representation serves this aim.
Mr. Répássy also said that the proposal does not include all the changes necessary for the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law, and legislation on dwelling in public places, on churches and on higher education were in a separate submission to the House.

He added that the amendment affects eighteen legislative provisions, but that most of these do not represent alterations to substance, as they contain only minor corrections

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)