Jobbik to submit bill tightening National Office of the Judiciary head’s responsibilities

The opposition Jobbik party on Friday said it will submit an amendment proposal to parliament that would require the head of the National Office of the Judiciary (OBH) to prepare the office’s annual reports by Jan. 31 of the following year.

Parliament’s justice committee is more than a year behind in reviewing the OBH’s annual reports, conservative MP Gábor Staudt told a press conference. This prevents the parliamentary parties from being able to respond to the office’s current affairs in committee hearings, he argued.

Because of these delays, the head of the OBH should be mandated to submit the office’s annual report to the justice committee by Jan. 31 of the following year, so that the committee can focus on current issues, Staudt said. He expressed hope that the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance would back his party’s amendment proposal.

Staudt criticised the state of Hungary’s judicial system, saying that “it has practically been left without any constitutional controls.”

He said it had recently become clear that the National Judicial Council (OBT) does not exercise oversight of the work of the OBH “even at a formal level”. The OBT has issued several statements in which it labelled OBH head Tünde Handó’s practices of appointing judges “unlawful”.

“That Handó branded judges who spoke out against the government’s judicial reforms as traitors is just the icing on the cake,” Staudt said.

Photo: Balázs Béli

Source: MTI