Socialists to submit complaint over speaker’s rejection of bill to repeal higher education law

Budapest, April 26 (MTI) – The Socialist Party will submit a complaint to parliament’s justice committee after House Speaker László Kövér rejected their proposal to repeal the amended law on higher education which regulates the operations of foreign universities in Hungary, the party’s group leader said on Wednesday.

Bertalan Tóth told a press conference that Kövér had rejected the party’s proposal on the grounds that it “hurts the dignity of parliament”. Tóth described Köver’s justification as “contrived and totally see-through”.

Tóth said the speaker had not given them a proper reason for the proposal’s rejection. The group leader said the reason why their bill had been rejected was likely that its justification says: “By signing ‘lex CEU’, [President] János Áder lost his standing as president and has become an embarrassment… ”

Tóth said it was a “show of unbelievable arrogance” on Kövér’s part to reject their bill, adding that “the biggest offence to the dignity of parliament is that Kövér is its speaker”. He said their bill contained an expression of opinion, which not even Kövér should be allowed to restrict.

Toth said that by submitting their bill with its content, the Socialists had done nothing more than bring the opinions of those protesting on the streets into parliament.

He said the Socialist Party would stand by its opinion that the higher education amendment must be repealed, adding that if the justice committee failed to discuss their complaint, they would re-submit the bill to repeal the law with an altered justification.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI