Most parties agree constitutional amendment needed on terror

Budapest, April 8 (MTI) – Hungary’s political parties broadly agreed on Friday on the need to change the constitution in light of government efforts to improve counter-terrorism legislation, the defence minister told a news conference on Friday.

István Simicskó at the same time said it was regrettable that the opposition Socialists had not taken part in the consultations.

He said parties to talks agreed that should police forces not be sufficient to contain an emergency situation, the military can be employed to guarantee safety. He added that debates currently focused on whether new special legal measures should be inserted into the fundamental law or such existing measures can be supplemented.

The parties to the negotiations agree to continue discussions, he said, adding that the government is aiming to draft a text to be submitted to parliament by the end of April. The bill would need a two-thirds majority to pass.

Lajos Kósa, the head of Fidesz’s parliamentary group, said the governing parties had come to agreement with Jobbik and LMP on the need to amend the constitution in connection with a possible terrorist emergency, and only technical legal questions remained.

Kósa said multiparty talks at the defence ministry on Friday had been productive. Apart from the Socialists, who stayed away from negotiations, all parties agreed that terrorist attacks such as those on Paris and Brussels require the implementation of special measures, Kósa said. It was agreed that these measures may mean that certain basic rights must be curtailed and this is only possible within a special legal framework, he added.

Participants to talks must still agree on whether these special measures should appear in the constitution in a separate clause or whether existing provisions should be extended to apply to cases of a terror emergency, Kósa said. He added that only those solutions can be considered which, while guaranteeing the safety of Hungarian people, also safeguard basic human rights, rule of law, democracy and freedom.

LMP said in a statement after the talks that the government’s original plans for a terror emergency are now off the table which means that a situation in which the prime minister and the government can “call the shots and do as they wish” has been averted. András Schiffer, co-leader of the opposition LMP party, said that the governing parties appear ready to compromise without taking a blank cheque on amending the constitution. LMP would primarily like to see a precise use of the concept of “terror threat” in a way that is linked to usage in Hungary’s criminal code, Schiffer said in the statement.

Ádám Mirkóczki, a lawmaker for Jobbik who attended talks, said his party was not opposed to a constitutional amendment but would stop short of allowing the government excessive powers. He also said a compromise was likely to be reached with the government.

The Socialists said earlier that they would not attend talks on the constitutional amendment as in their view the proposals are “intended to cement Fidesz’s unbridled power rather than being about the safety of Hungarians”.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters