Govt to draft new legislation on right to assembly

Budapest, July 12 (MTI) – The government will draft a new bill on the right to assembly, following through with a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court, Hungary’s justice minister said on Tuesday.

The top court ruled earlier on Tuesday that parliament should enact appropriate public assembly legislation by the end of the year as the current regulations are conflicting concerning the constitutional right to assembly and the right to privacy.

László Trócsányi told a press conference that the new legislation will take into account the practice directions of the European Court of Human Rights and the opinions of legal experts and authorities. The government will also initiate talks on the bill with parliament’s five parties.

The minister attributed the problems with the public assembly law to the regulations being incomplete and difficult to interpret or implement.

Trocsanyi noted that the Constitutional Court had sought clarification to the legislation as early as 2008 when it said lawmakers had not taken into consideration the way demonstration culture had changed over time.

Interior Minister Sándor Pintér welcomed the court’s ruling and said the government would aim to put together a bill that will satisfy demonstrators and ensure that police can uphold public order.

He said the court’s decision introduced a new aspect in policing demonstrations by declaring that if a demonstration is banned at a certain site, police have to recommend an alternative location to organisers.

The top court’s Tuesday ruling came in connection with an appeal against the banning of a 2014 demonstration by troubled forex loan holders that was scheduled to be held at the prime minister’s residence and at the supreme court’s headquarters. The submission claimed that banning those demonstrations violated the right to peaceful assembly enshrined in the constitution.

The top court said that the authorities had not violated the right to assembly by banning the demonstrations and argued that protests could be held at any other sites outside the banned premises.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI