Public administration courts to open on Jan 1, 2020

Hungary’s new public administration courts will be up a running on January 1, 2020, the Prime Minister’s Office chief said on Thursday.

The government has approved the concept of a new, specialised system of eight regional public administration courts and a supreme public administration court headquartered in Esztergom, in northern Hungary, Gergely Gulyás told a regular press conference.

By the end of October, the justice ministry will submit draft legislation on the new system and parliament may vote on it during its autumn session, he said.

Gulyás said introducing the new system was about “restoring historical tradition”.

Hungary had maintained structurally independent public administration courts until 1949 when “the communists” abolished them.

He insisted that the new system would ensure faster and more effective justice for complainants against public administration decisions.

As well as introducing the public administration courts, the government seeks to implement a reform of public administration aimed at simplifying certain procedures and clarifying spheres of authority, Gulyás said.

On another topic, Gulyás announced that the government had decided to set up a reserve fund of 300 million forints (EUR 925,000) for homeless services. He said the fund will be used to set up facilities “for public sanitation tasks” to be performed before a rough sleeper “is taken to a night shelter”. Gulyás noted that