The Commission has not expressed any objections to the Fundamental Law, said Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics in Parliament on Tuesday, after having met with the delegation from The Venice Commission visiting Hungary.

After the meeting Mr. Navracsics said that ‘At today’s meeting we summarised the events which have taken place since our discussions in Venice in March, and reported that our primary goal has been the creation of a fundamental law drawn up in line with the rules of democratic process and containing elements fully accepted in democratic systems.’ He added that ‘At present – after adoption of the Fundamental law – the drafting of cardinal Acts is the main objective, and the questions from the Venice Commission were also in connection with this.’

The minister said that the cardinal Acts had been divided into two large groups: in the first stage those acts will be debated which have either already been partly prepared as a result of earlier policy debates, or which only require technical modification after the introduction of the new Fundamental Law. These can arguably be adopted by Parliament before the summer recess, which starts on 11 July, he said. The other group of cardinal Acts contains those for which policy debate will start now. Examples of these are the Act on local government or the one on electoral law, for which debate on the first conceptual questions has only recently started.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Venice Commission had also expressed interest in which Acts would be converted into cardinal Acts, and which ones were planned to be adopted. There were further questions on the text of the Fundamental Law, specifically on the remit of independent authorities in the creation of legal rules, the role of the Preamble, and the public annulment of the 1949 Constitution.

During the Venice Commission’s two-day visit the delegates will meet representatives from other parties, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs and József Szájer, said Mr. Navracsics.

(kormany.hu)