Prime Minister Péter Magyar of Hungary has shared the outline of the planned 17th amendment of the Fundamental Law of Hungary in a post to his Facebook page. The written breakdown of the amendment was included in the caption of his video message about the proposed constitutional changes.
‘With this amendment, the tenure of the incumbent President of the Republic [Tamás Sulyok] is ending,’ the prime minister stated in the video.
‘The reconstruction of Hungary cannot start while the most important state dignitary is the same person who took part in the dismantling of the Republic. What’s more, he cheered on the government that was breaking down the rule of law,’ he went on to state. The prime minister also accused the incumbent president of ‘letting the Hungarian people down when they needed him the most.’
However, members of the opposition Fidesz Party are denouncing the amendment as an authoritarian power grab. Former prime minister Viktor Orbán announced a protest on Thursday, 9 July, in front of the presidential residence, Sándor Palace, in Budapest, Hungary.
President Sulyok himself has spoken up against the amendment that would remove him from office if passed. Speaking to a Polish conservative weekly, Do Rzeczy, he called the planned amendment ‘a law tailored to a specific individual, which by no means can be described as a solution consistent with the rule of law.’
PM Magyar has been calling for the resignation of President Sulyok since his Tisza Party’s landslide election win in April, even before he took office.
However, under the constitutional law in place at the time, the President could only be impeached and removed from office if the Constitutional Court determined that they had willfully violated a law during the performance of their presidential duties, after a resolution adopted by the parliament.
Thus, PM Magyar and the Tisza Party’s constitutional supermajority in the National Assembly need to pass the amendment to officially end President Sulyok’s tenure.
Magyar has previously floated the idea of electing the President by popular vote—similar to the system in Poland—in the past. However, in his video message, he specified that it will be the sitting Members of the National Assembly of Hungary who will choose the next head of state, for a new term no longer than five years. The selection of the new President is expected to take place this summer, according to the video address by PM Magyar.
What Else Is Included in the Amendment Announced by Magyar?
In his written Facebook post, PM Magyar enumerated what is included in the 17th amendment of the Fundamental Law in 12 key points.
Among those, the most significant ones are: the introduction of 12-year term limits to members of parliament; a ‘more independent’ Constitutional Court with an age limit of 70 years for justices; the creation of the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office; the removal of the veto power of the Budgetery Committe; and the dismantlement of the Parlimentary Guard, and its replacement with a ‘unifeied law enforcement administration’.
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