Hungarian house speaker mulls stricter house rules after demonstrations in parliament

Disciplinary rules in parliament may be stepped up in the wake of this week’s demonstrations over the amendments to overtime regulations, Speaker of Parliament László Kövér told Inforadio late on Thursday night.

On Wednesday, parliament voted to raise the upper threshold for annual overtime from 250 to 400 hours. The opposition blocked the house speaker’s dais and obstructed proceedings with loud whistling and jeering in an attempt to thwart the vote. Later that day, demonstrators against the regulation clashed with police on Kossuth Square near Parliament. Check out photos, read more HERE.

Kövér said in the interview that

they are looking into making house disciplinary rules stricter as those in effect “do not seem to be a strong enough deterrent”.

He said that the opposition had resorted to “mindless disorderly conduct verging on anarchy as a standard tactic”. “So in this case, it should at least hurt,” he said.

What happened in the assembly chamber was in no way different from the demonstrations outside Parliament, Kövér insisted, where protesters clashed with police on Wednesday and Thursday night.

At the protests, nine police officers were injured and at least one person taken into custody, Interior Minister Sándor Pintár said in a briefing on Thursday night. Read more HERE.

Kövér has proposed fines of 400,000-600,000 forints (EUR 1,235-1,850) to be paid by Socialist lawmakers Bertelan Tóth, Ildikó Borbély Bangó, Tamás Harangozó, Ágnes Kunhalmi, Sándor Szabó and Bence Tordai (Párbeszéd), and László Varju (Democratic Coalition). The speaker’s proposal must be approved by the Parliament.

Source: mti