According to the Government Spokesman, if the lesser legislation relating to the fourth amendment of the constitution is adopted, debate on the issue within the European Union will also come to an end.

On Kossuth Radio's 180 minutes programme on Monday morning, András Giró-Szász stressed that the fourth amendment to Hungary's Fundamental Law is just a framework, and it is only based on the legislative system that stems from the amendment that it may be decided if the regulations are democratic or otherwise. He also emphasised that if Parliament adopts these lesser pieces of legislation, then both domestic and international public opinion will be assured that their claims are unfounded.

András Giró-Szász explained that the bedrock of the rule of law is that if a nation state decides something, and any institutional level of the European Union argues it, then a cultured European debate is launched on the subject. There are hundreds if not thousands of similar cases within the European Union each year, said the Government Spokesman, pointing out that of these, 17 or so are directed at Hungary, while in the case of other countries hundreds of such debates are initiated.

The Government Spokesman reiterated that as it had stated earlier, Hungary is ready to debate concrete issues. In the past, whenever the argument of the EU has proven to be stronger than the argument put forward by Hungary, the National Assembly has implemented the required amendments, he stated. However, in the majority of cases, this is not what happened; the European Union conceded that it had been too quick to judge, or accepted that the fact that the Hungarian Government was the first to develop a new idea doesn't necessarily mean that the measure is anti-democratic, he explained.

András Giró-Szász also spoke of the fact that the Ministry of National Economy had to submit the first draft of its convergence programme to the EU today, adding that the European recession and the fact that there would be no growth in the EU member states could not be ignored. However, he pointed out that according to the report published by respected London analysts last Friday, the prognosis for Hungary is growth of 0.1 to 1 percent. All forecasts for Hungary are positive, he stated.

According to the Government Spokesman, the convergence programme would clearly continue along the current path by which that the Hungarian Government would reinforce its economic and social policy while putting the national budget in order, and would strengthen various social groups while continuously reducing debt at a local government, business and individual level alike.

(Prime Minister’s Office)