Head of PM’s Office: Constitutional Court must define limits of EU law

The Constitutional Court, not the Court of Justice of the European Union, must define the limits of the competences exercised jointly by Hungary and the EU, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on public radio on Sunday.

At the time of our accession to the EU, we committed to exercising certain competences jointly with the institutions of the EU, but this principle applies only in designated areas, Gergely Gulyás said on Kossuth Rádió.

The joint exercise of competences applies, for example, to rules governing competition on the common market, but not to the defence of borders and the indigenous population “on which only the Hungarian government and voting citizens have the right to decide” he added.

Gulyás said the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that Hungary has the right to defend its borders from migration independently of the EU, just as it is obliged to defend Hungarians from the harmful effects of migration on society, and that rules pertaining to the Hungarian population and the state structure belong to the national competence and take precedence over any EU rule or norm.

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The ruling gives the Hungarian government a clear mandate to continue its migration policy as it has done until now, he said.

He noted that the European Court of Human Rights had earlier found Hungary’s institution of transit zones to be lawful, while the Court of Justice of the EU issued a ruling to the contrary, adding that the decision was taken “applying completely unacceptable reasoning”.