Constitutional Court Judge Criticizes Amendment, Cites Communist Tactics

A Hungarian Constitutional Court judge has voiced strong criticism over the recent amendment to the country's Fundamental Law, drawing parallels to communist-era political maneuvers. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Attila Horváth expressed deep concern that the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law disregards the constitutional framework governing the accountability of the president.

Horváth recalled historical precedents, including the removal of President Zoltán Tildy in 1948. Tildy, president from February 1946 to July 1948, was forced to resign not through a constitutional process, but via criminal proceedings initiated against a close family member. Similarly, Árpád Szakasits, president from August 1948 to August 1949 and later head of the Presidential Council until 1950, was sidelined, arrested, and subjected to a show trial by Mátyás Rákosi when he became politically inconvenient.

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Considering all these historical precedents, I find it particularly alarming that today's modern National Assembly, by passing the seventeenth amendment to the Fundamental Law, has neglected the system of public law accountability mechanisms concerning the president as stipulated in the Fundamental Law.

"Considering all these historical precedents, I find it particularly alarming that today's modern National Assembly, by passing the seventeenth amendment to the Fundamental Law, has neglected the system of public law accountability mechanisms concerning the president as stipulated in the Fundamental Law," Horváth wrote. He further criticized the parliament for electing a new head of state on August 11 without awaiting the Constitutional Court's decision on the matter. "I call attention to the fact that within the system of checks and balances, the Constitutional Court is the most important institution of constitutional control over the legislative power," he noted.

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I call attention to the fact that within the system of checks and balances, the Constitutional Court is the most important institution of constitutional control over the legislative power.