Hungarians fight for civil liberties

This video says about itself:

Hungarian Roma groups hold counter-protest to far-right march

October 18, 2012

Some 600 members of Hungary’s Roma ethnic minority hold a counter-protest in the eastern city of Miskolc, in a rare show of unity ahead of a demonstration by far-right party Jobbik against “Gypsy crime”.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Protesters take on repressive new Bill

Sunday 10 March 2013

by Our Foreign Desk

Hungarians gathered outside the country’s parliament in Budapest at the weekend in protest against changes to the new constitution they say infringes on civil rights.

After a demonstration on Thursday, protesters and a number of NGOs including Amnesty International launched a second rally on Saturday against a package of measures due to be adopted tomorrow.

Over the past 18 months the Constitutional Court has struck down several of the government’s policies, including fining or jailing the homeless for living in public spaces, banning political campaign ads on commercial radio and TV stations and forcing university students who accepted state scholarships to work in Hungary for years after they graduate.

But MPs from Prime Minister Viktor Orban‘s Fidesz Party are preparing to pass a lengthy amendment to the constitution that will entrench all those discredited policies and many others, ensuring that the government gets its way no matter what anyone says.

Opponents claim the changes will accelerate an assault on democratic structures started by the Fidesz-led government in 2010, which have also drawn criticism from the European Commission.

Commission president Jose Maria Barroso telephoned Mr Orban on Friday and sent him a letter expressing his concerns about conflicts between the amendment and EU law.

In a written response to Mr Barroso, Mr Orban confirmed “the full commitment” of Hungary’s government and parliament to European norms, but gave no indication that the vote on the amendment would be delayed.

One of the key articles of the so-called fourth amendment says the Constitutional Court can review whether the procedures to pass the amendment were lawful, but can’t examine its contents.

See also here.

Harsh Criticism for Orbán: ‘Take Away Hungary’s European Council Vote’: here.

Related articles

• Hungary to Amend Constitution as EU Monitors Backsliding – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Hungarian changes stir EU action (smh.com.au)
• Hungary to Insert Rejected Laws Into Constitution (abcnews.go.com)
• Hungarians protest at changes to new constitution (nation.co.ke)
• Rights group urges Hungary to delay amendments (thestate.com)