AA13CR22ADD1
AS (2013) CR 22
Addendum 1
2013 ORDINARY SESSION
________________________
(Third part)
REPORT
Twenty-second Sitting
25 June 2013 at 3.30 p.m.
ADDENDUM 1
Request for the opening of a monitoring procedure
in respect of Hungary
The following texts were submitted for inclusion in the official report by members who were present in the Chamber but were prevented by lack of time from delivering them.
Ms MYLLER (Finland) – Recent political developments in Hungary give increasing cause for concern. The policies of Prime Minister Orban’s Government have limited media freedom in Hungary and weakened its civil society. In order to be properly evaluated, these policies and their impact have undergone in-depth and objective examination by the Venice Commission.
Hungary’s Government is democratically elected and it acts with the mandate of the Hungarian people. But how far can that mandate be extended? What are the rights and responsibilities of national governments towards their own citizens and the international community? What are the values that Council of Europe member States must commit to following? How has Hungary’s Government dealt with its mandate in this respect?
The Venice Commission weighed these questions in its report which gave a very worrying view of developments in Hungary. For the sake of the cohesion of member States and of the credibility of the Council of Europe, it is crucial to safeguard the Venice Commission’s role as an objective, independent and respected authority.
The two-thirds majority in Parliament has given Prime Minister Orban and his Government enormous legislative power – the power to change Hungary’s constitution and to introduce cardinal laws that shift the constitutional balance. The major constitutional reform includes several changes that may undermine the role and impartiality of the justice system and media freedom. It also introduces new regulations that affect the personal sphere, such as family relations and religious views. Many of the new amendments may also further strengthen the power of the current government. Several decisions have been passed without decent and open public debate. I ask myself how far a government can go, even within the boundaries of its mandate. To find this out, we need to open a monitoring procedure.
Ms de POURBAIX-LUNDIN (Sweden) – I thank the rapporteur for an excellent report. Exactly two years and five months ago on 25 January 2011, 24 members, with me as the first name, moved the motion to open a monitoring process in Hungary. We did so as friends of Hungary.
Two years and five months is a long time, and it is not only the Council of Europe that has reacted to the situation in Hungary. Other international bodies, such as the European Union and the OSCE, have strongly reacted to the way the two-thirds majority is used by the government to pass fundamental laws and regulate issues by cardinal laws that usually do not fall in that category. A great many decisions by the constitutional court are being circumvented by the government thanks to its majority, and laws that were previously annulled by the court have been reintroduced. The consequence is that a future majority government will have great difficulties.
As politicians, we all dream of a two-thirds majority, but if you get one, you should be humble and include the opposition and the civil society before taking any decisions. And you should always remember that there is a life, a political life, after your term of power has expired. During this period of two years and five months, I have been informed by many Hungarians, and in particular by ambassadors of Hungary, that Hungary is on the right track. I have always underlined the need for checks and balances. In Hungary, the constitutional court is the guarantee of checks and balances.
If Hungary during this period of two years and five months had listened to the constructive advice given by the Venice Commission and others I would be the first to vote against opening a monitoring process. Some say that if you vote for monitoring you are against Hungary. I would say that you are for Hungary. Monitoring is not the end of Hungary, Monitoring is the beginning for Hungary.