Hungary Chief Justice Asks Orban to Shield Court From Opposition
Hungary Chief Justice Asks Orban to Shield Court From Opposition
(Bloomberg) -- The president of Hungary’s top court asked Prime Minister Viktor Orban to shield justices from an opposition pledge to remove them from office if his rivals win next year’s elections.
A pledge by opposition leaders to void the mandate of Constitutional Court justices is tantamount to a “subversion of the constitutional order,” court President Tamas Sulyok said in an open letter to Orban, the country’s president and parliament speaker.
Sulyok asked the officials for “appropriate and efficient” measures to prevent this, according to a letter posted on the court’s website on Tuesday.
Hungary’s opposition has united before the election and is pledging to roll back Orban power consolidation. The European Union is probing erosion of the rule of law in Hungary, with criticism focused on the erosion of checks and balances and the appointment of the premier’s allies to the helm of independent institutions. Orban’s lawmakers also passed a new constitution over opposition objections.
If the opposition defeats Orban, their candidate for premier, Peter Marki-Zay, has said he plans to “fire” officials whose primary role he considers to be sustaining Orban’s influence, according to an interview in mfor.hu website on Wednesday.
Marki-Zay cited the country’s chief prosecutor, Peter Polt, as well as the members of the Constitutional Court, as examples.
The opposition bloc backing Marki-Zay is running neck-and-neck with Orban’s Fidesz party in opinion polls ahead of general elections expected in April.
Faced with his first real possibility of defeat since 2010, Orban has entrenched allies in office. Recent appointments included the head of the media regulator, the Supreme Court and the head of the nuclear agency, often for terms extending to 2030. Last month, ruling party lawmakers approved a law requiring the approval of two-thirds of parliament to fire the chief prosecutor.
Orban argues the changes are legally sound as they were backed by the two-thirds majority -- enough to change the constitution -- he commands. Marki-Zay has vowed to make changes that legally require a two-thirds majority even if he’ll have only a simple majority, arguing that some of them are crucial to allow the new cabinet to govern.
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