Zsolt Gréczy insisted that ruling Fidesz seeks to extend political control over Hungary’s law courts, which are still “more or less independent”.

Referring to earlier government plans to set up special law courts to deal with key economic or political cases, Gréczy said that “we do not want to live in a dictatorship, nor do we want construed cases or Fidesz-appointed judges with full power over life and death”.

Gréczy noted that the national judicial office also had objections to the justice ministry’s plans, and warned that “demonstrations similar to those in Poland” could follow.

In response, Fidesz communications chief Balázs Hidvéghi said in a statement that the “attacks on Hungary’s justice system constitute another campaign against Hungary and Poland for rejecting migrants and the mandatory EU resettlement quota scheme.”

DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány talking about an independent justice system is “particularly obnoxious”, because it is he who “threatens prosecutors and judges routinely when they decide against his interests”, Hidvéghi said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.