Parliament voted in favour of a constitutional amendment to tighten the right of assembly, another demonstration in Budapest

Hungary’s parliament adopted the 15th amendment to the Fundamental Law on Monday, with 140 votes in favour and 21 against.

The amendment, proposed by the ruling parties, was designed to confirm that gender at birth is biologically determined, either male or female. Under the new changes, the state must ensure the protection of that “natural order” and prevent any endeavours to suggest there are opportunities to change sex at birth.

The preamble to the legislation said the fixed nature of the biological gender will ensure the healthy development of society and help maintain fundamental norms of the community. Hungarian law refuses to recognise changes to one’s sex at birth, thus preserving the stability of the family as an institution and social order, it added.

The amendment enshrines in the constitution “the protection of children’s bodily, spiritual and moral development, and the right to children’s identity according to their gender at birth” as a fundamental right of paramount importance, enjoying proportionate protection. This precedes any other right with the exception of the right to human life, it adds.

 

 

 

 

 

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Also under the amendment, the Hungarian citizenship of dual citizens may be suspended for definite periods of time, but such a suspension cannot be applied collectively to groups of citizens.

The amendment also enshrines the right to use cash in the constitution. According to the legislation, retaining cash transactions is the only way to prevent the economy from becoming vulnerable to electronic banking systems, which are prone to failure for technical or economic reasons. The preamble says that the inclusion of those stipulations in the constitution will ensure the option to pay with cash for everybody, thus preventing opportunities from financial segregation.

Meanwhile, the new changes outlaw the production, abuse, distribution and promotion of drugs, aimed at reinforcing the Hungarian state’s commitment to protecting public safety, healthy lifestyles and public order.

Another change stipulates that prosecutors, with the exception of the chief prosecutor, can continue working until their 70th birthday.

Under current regulations, the government has the authority to pass decrees, suspend certain laws or deviate from them, as well as take extraordinary measures in a special legal order. After Monday’s amendment takes effect, the government will have the authority to suspend or deviate from some laws under martial law or in an emergency without special authorisation by parliament. In a state of danger, however, the government will need the approval of parliament’s two-thirds majority to do so for a given period of time.

In changes related to localities, the amended constitution stipulates that the right of movement should not impinge on the right of local communities to uphold their identity. According to the preamble, the new passages would ensure protection to those communities that seek to preserve their way of life, traditions or social structure, and allow them to define the size of their community.

New passages concerning the special legal order and prosecutors will take effect on January 1 next year, but the rest of the stipulations will become effective the day after their publication.

Momentum stages protest in front of Parliament against constitutional amendment

The opposition Momentum Movement staged a demonstration against the 15th constitutional amendment in front of Parliament on Monday afternoon.

Momentum’s parliamentary group leader, Dávid Bedő, urged protesters to make their way to the President of the Republic’s office and demand that Tamás Sulyok withhold his signature from the amendment.

He thanked protesters for “standing up for freedom, fundamental rights and freedom of assembly”. He added that it was not time for a revolution as the ruling Fidesz party would be swept from parliament democratically in next year’s election.

Bedő said people were showing resistance to the “oppressive” government. “We will continue our resistance, because where there is tyranny, there is also resistance,” he added.

Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, told the protesters to gather for Budapest Pride on June 28 and vowed that the event would go ahead.

He said the amendment to the Fundamental Law concerned not only Pride but freedom, too. A free society “means that citizens don’t just look after their own freedom but each other’s freedom, too.”

He said the constitution must start from the basis that “we Hungarians are not the same but equal”.

Tamás Soproni, the mayor of the Budapest district of Terezvaros, said restricting the right to assembly was an attack on “the core of our freedom”.

Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of Ferencváros, said: “We are now on the same path as Russia.” She said the government’s “system of national cooperation” had undermined multiple fundamental values. By curbing various rights, “we suddenly find ourselves exactly as we were before the regime change” in 1990, she added.

Baranyi said the ban on Pride was a political trap which should not be jumped over “with our eyes closed”. Instead, “we must chase the system of national cooperation into it,” she added.

She declared that minority rights and the protection and expansion of freedoms “must be made central values of Hungarianness after Viktor Orbán.”

At the start of the protest, 100-120 people gathered on the north side of Parliament before activists and Momentum members headed towards the entrance to Parliament’s garage, in front of which police formed a line. The protesters sat down and blocked the road. Shortly afterwards, police removed protesters one at a time.

After the speeches, protesters headed to the presidential Sándor Palace, but were stopped by a police line and patrol cars at the Buda end of the Chain Bridge. Some of the demonstrators were able to break through but were held up at the steps leading to the Castle District. Shortly before 8pm most protesters left and the bridge was reopened to traffic.

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