The radical nationalist Jobbik party’s proposal, which is drafted in the proper legal format, suggests that authorising wider powers for the government in a state of terrorist threat should be tied to a four-fifths majority vote.

Simicskó said this is not realistic since anti-terrorist actions must be immediate.

He said the government has reviewed the relevant legislation in NATO and neighbouring countries and found that Hungary lags behind in giving its military “sufficient powers to act”.

For example, in France more than a thousand soldiers had to be deployed in wake of the Paris attacks, he said. Hungarian soldiers are already fighting terrorism from Afghanistan to Iraq, but at the current time they lack the powers to do the same at home.

“Nobody should think that the government is after some kind of absolute power and they would unjustifiably use the army,” he insisted. “When there is a threat of terror, every means must be available,” he said.

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MTI photo: Máthé Zoltán