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.