A conference was held on 12 June in Budapest to evaluate the achievement that, thanks to the harmonious cooperation of the Government, churches and municipalities, the settlement of church properties has been finally closed; an arrangement that has been long overdue since the change of regime. The property settlement played a role in the reinforcement of the religious activities of churches, significantly contributed to the reorganisation of the system of church institutions and created the foundations for the fulfilment of public duties by churches.

As part of the church property settlement, the proprietary status of some 8 thousand properties has been settled. As a result, more than a hundred thousand children attend church schools today, the number of church-operated institutions of higher education has increased and church-run health care and social institutions have re-emerged. Several emblematic church buildings have been returned to churches since 1991, including Matthias Church, St. Stephen Basilica, the Buda Sisters of Charity Hospital and the buildings of the Eger Eszterházy Károly Teacher Training College, the Piarist Convent and Grammar School, the Lónyay Reformed Church Grammar School, the Debrecen Reformed Church Teacher Training College, the Aszód Evangelical Grammar School and the former Jewish Grammar School.

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said at the conference that the task was highly complex. However, the job accomplished is a success story.

A legal rule regarding the settlement of the proprietary status of former church properties was passed in Hungary, the first one in the former communist countries, in 1991. It was a law of symbolic importance for Hungary that had just left communism behind. The law prescribed the return of properties nationalised without compensation after 1 January 1948, subject to the maintenance of functions related to religious activities and public duties, and offered compensation in cases where churches did not request the return of their original properties. The implementation of the law, however, varied in intensity over the years; the socialist-liberal governments in office in the past 20 years significantly slowed down this process. The final church property settlement list, which effectively served as a timetable for the property settlement process, was drafted in 1999, at the time of the first Orbán Government.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)