The government passed the law which provided for a new administrative court acting as an appeals court in January. But the Constitutional Court ruled that such a change required a two-thirds majority which the government did not have.

The resubmitted law redesignated the metropolitan court as the administrative court rather than legislating for a new court. Parliament approved this version of the law in February.

Defending the original draft of the law, Justice Minister László Trócsányi dismissed claims at the time that the new administrative court would serve political purposes, saying it was “simply untrue” that the government was seeking to appoint governmentfriendly judges.

The opposition had complained that the new court would have the power to rule on legal disputes concerning decisions made by the media authority, the National Bank of Hungary, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board and the National Election Committee.

A Socialist lawmaker said at the time: “This is as if the accused were to
choose the jury members from among his family members.”

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