Hungary’s New Constitution: Why We Worry

We, the undersigned legal experts and scholars from law, philosophy and the social sciences, endorse the following petition:

On April 18th the Hungarian Parliament will decide on the adoption of a new constitution for the Republic of Hungary. While we welcome the effort to create a new constitution for the country to overcome the technical deficiencies of the revised constitution of 1989, we consider the draft of the FIDESZ/KDNP coalition and the way it is adopted deeply disturbing.

The draft constitution

effectively abolishes large parts of constitutional review, possibly disabling the Constitutional Court as a politically independent body, gives leeway for the enactment of unconstitutional law and thereby undermines the rule of law,

declares the inconsistent and ideologically lopsided preamble and the legally undefinable „historical constitution” as binding for its interpretation, can be understood to delegitimize the entire constitutional law and jurisdiction of the last 20 years, and thus obviates any well grounded assertion of what the constitution actually says and thereby further undermines the rule of law,

severely restricts the scope of action of future governments unless they command a 2/3 majority,

has been written at the whim of the current government, is being enacted without both framework and time for proper deliberation and without sufficient participation by the opposition and the public and will therefore suffer from severe legitimacy deficiencies.

Hungary is not only a member state of the European Union, but an integral part of the European sphere of legal and constitutional culture. Hungarians have long struggled for their „Return to Europe“. Based on the existing constitution, Hungary’s world-renowned Constitutional Court has made a rich contribution to European constitutionalism. We are deeply worried that, by passing this document, Hungary risks its reputation as a model of a new constitutional democracy rising from an authoritarian regime. Following the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, we appeal to the leaders of the coalition parties FIDESZ and KDNP, particularly to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, to refrain from enforcing a hastened decision and imposing a insufficiently legitimate constitution on their country. Instead, we urge to use the opportunity to draft and pass a document that can unite Hungarians and does not divide them. We call for a constitution that, by providing clear legal concepts instead of historical symbolism in legal form, can serve as the foundation of a constitutional state based on legal certainty and the rule of law. Finally, Hungary deserves a constitution that preserves, and not limits, the functions of its guardian, the Constitutional Court, one of the most trusted institutions in the country.

Signed (5/01, 9:00 pm MEZ):

Antal ÁDÁM, University of Pécs, Hungary Wolf ALBIN, Attorney-at-Law, Berlin, Germany Andrew ARATO, New School for Social Research, New York, USA Judit BAYER, King Sigismund College, Budapest, Hungary Jochen VON BERNSTORFF, Max-Planck-Institute Heidelberg & University Göttingen, Germany Adam BODNAR, Warsaw University, Poland Christian BOULANGER, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany David R. BOYD, Simon Fraser University, Canada Eva BREMS, Ghent University, Belgium Nora CHRONOWSKI, University of Pecs, Hungary Monica CLAES, Maastricht University, Netherlands Mihály CSÁKÓ, John Wesley Theological College and ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Justus von DANIELS, Cardozo School of Law, New York, USA Balázs DÉNES, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Budapest, Hungary Tímea DRINÓCZI, University of Pécs, Hungary Catherine DUPRÉ, University of Exeter, United Kingdom David DYZENHAUS, University of Toronto, Canada Dirk FABRICIUS, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany Agata FIJALKOWSKI, Lancaster University, United Kingdom Zoltan FLECK, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Andreas FUNKE, University of Cologne, Germany Claudio FRANZIUS, University of Hamburg, Germany Siri GLOPPEN, University of Berge & Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway Marcin GÓRSKI, University of Łódź, Poland. Marie-Pierre GRANGER, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Christoph GUSY, Bielefeld University, Germany Balázs GYENIS, University of Pittsburgh, USA Tamás GYÖRFI, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom Gábor HALMAI, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary, Dominik HANF, College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium Helen E. HARTNELL, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, USA Wolf HEYDEBRAND, New York University, USA Kristina IRION, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Ireneusz C. KAMINSKI, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Ulrich KARPENSTEIN, Attorney-at-Law, Berlin, Germany Alexandra KEMMERER, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, Germany János KIS, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Sascha KNEIP, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), Berlin, Germany Jan KOMAREK, London School of Economics, United Kingdom Atina KRAJEWSKA, School of Law, University of Exeter, United Kingdom Helga KRISCH, Administrative Court, Berlin, Germany Mattias KUMM, Humbold University, Berlin, Germany and New York University, USA Johanna LÁSZLÓ, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Tamás LATTMANN, National Defense University and ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Oliver W. LEMBCKE, University of Jena, Germany Patrick MACKLEM, University of Toronto, Canada Miguel Poiares MADURO, Professor, European University Institute Matthias MAHLMANN, University of Zurich, Switzerland Ernst Gottfried MAHRENHOLZ, Deputy President of the Constitutional Court (ret.), Karlsruhe, Germany Balázs MAJTÉNYI, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary László MAJTÉNYI, University of Miskolc, Hungary Susanna MANCINI, University of Bologna, Italy Stefan MARKUS, former Ambassador to Hungary, Slovakia Franz MAYER, University of Bielefeld, Germany Jeremy MCBRIDE, Monckton Chambers, Gray’s Inn, London, United Kingdom Zoltan MIKLÓSI, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Christoph MOELLERS, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany Jan-Werner MUELLER, Princeton University, USA Odonkhu MUNKHSAIKAN, Nagoya University, Japan Andreas ORATOR, WU University of Business and Economics, Vienna, Austria Viktor OSIATYNSKI, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary András L. PAP, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Vlad PERJU, Boston College Law School, USA Otto PFERSMANN, University Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris, France Ulrich K. PREUSS, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany Jiri PRIBAN, Cardiff University, United Kingdom István RÉV, Open Society Archives, Budapest, Hungary Michel ROSENFELD, President of the US Association of Constitutional Law, Cardozo School of Law, New York, USA Judit SANDOR, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Aurel SARI, University of Exeter, United Kingdom Martin SCHEININ, President of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL), European Universit Institute Stefan SCHEPERS, director general of the European Institute of Public Administration (ret.) Kim Lane SCHEPPELE, Princeton University, USA Tibor SCHOBER, Attorney-at-Law, Berlin, Germany Kristina SCHOENFELDT, University of Freiburg, Germany Bernadette SOMODY, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Grażyna SKAPSKA, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Poland Maximilian STEINBEIS, Attorney-at-Law, Germany Máté Dániel SZABÓ, University of Miskolc, Hungary Sona SZOMOLANYI, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia Christopher THORNHILL, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom Gábor Attila TÓTH, Debrecen University, Hungary Johan VAN DER WALT, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom Balázs VÁRADI, ELTE University,Budapest,Hungary Marton VARJU, University of Hull, UK & Central European University, Hungary Attila VINCZE, University of Hull, United Kingdom Beatrix VISSY, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary Astrid WALLRABENSTEIN, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany Meike WEISSPFLUG, RWTH Aachen, Germany Mattias WENDEL, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany Tim WIHL, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany Miroslaw WYRZYKOWSKI, Justice of the Constitutional Court (ret.) & Warsaw University, Poland Katarina ZAVACKA, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

If you share our concern, please sign the petition by adding a comment with your name and institutional affiliation. Thank you.