"This government has hit many lows in dismantling the rule of law and constitutional order over the past sixteen years. But I cannot recall anything as brazen as what happened on Tuesday," Karácsony wrote on Wednesday.

The decree, with retroactive effect, declares that the seizure of funds from the Budapest municipality cannot be challenged in court and, for good measure, explicitly instructs courts to terminate ongoing proceedings.

"This is a chilling admission by the government that the municipality would win these cases, and that the money taken from the people of Budapest should be returned," he wrote. "Yet what is even more alarming is that this sets a precedent: if a court appears likely to rule against the government, a decree can simply be issued afterwards to declare the government right and dismiss the case."

Karacsony added: "The government has now abandoned even the pretense of respecting the rule of law."

"I hope the courts can resist this assault. If they cannot, it will ultimately be painful for pro-government politicians. This system will end one day. What remains to be seen is whether that end will come within the framework of the rule of law, or by trampling it. That will depend on the precedents this current regime creates."

Later on Wednesday, Karacsony said on Facebook that he was asking the European Commission to "look into the steps they could take to protect the rule of law in Hungary."

"Retroactively overriding court decisions with government decrees clearly violates the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union… If the Hungarian government is allowed to retroactively annul court decisions with a decree issued during the state of emergency … then [it] is clearly shirking a fundamental duty towards its citizens," he said.

The decree "is an acknowledgement that those monies should rightfully be given back" to municipalities, he said. "It is also an acknowledgement that the Hungarian government's economic policy is a failure. A mockery of the independence of the judiciary and judges. In that sense, this is a European issue," he said.

He said he hoped the courts would not be swayed by the decree or by "the propaganda of intimidation".

"If that happens, we can still keep our budget balanced by suing for damages; at the same time, we must take precautions. We will not be able to pay suppliers' invoices until mid-March when corporate taxes will be paid," he said, and asked Budapest companies to pay the taxes early if they could afford it. "We hope to make it to April this way."

"We trust voters to elect a government that will not see municipalities or the nation's capital … as an enemy," he said.

Karacsony: Govt's 'law-breaking' decree has failed

The government's recent "law-breaking" decree issued to block Budapest's legal challenge against the disputed "solidarity tax" has "failed within a single day", Gergely Karacsony, the city's mayor, wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

Karacsony said the court had not terminated the lawsuit filed by the town of Szigetszentmiklos, despite the government's decree, adding that this signalled trust in the remaining independence of the judiciary was still justified.

"Should I be whistling [in triumph]?" Karacsony asked, referring to remarks made by the head of the Prime Minister's Office after the government retroactively overrode court judgements by decree.

"The government. Retroactively. Overriding court judgements," Karacsony emphasised, adding that no legally trained person could witness this without crying scandal, yet "the arrogance of power" appeared to erase even the most basic legal principles taught in law schools.

"If the government disregards Roman law, the constitution, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and judicial independence, it places itself above the law while sending a clear message: it does not care about the citizens of this country either," Karacsony said. "If they can do this to the capital, they can do it to anyone. That is why resistance is necessary. That is why protest is justified. And if they want to call it "whistling", so be it."

The mayor underscored that Budapest was not alone in its fight, noting that multiple municipalities are suing the government over the same "unjust and unlawful" expropriation, "exposing the government's lie".

"The money taken from Budapest was never intended for smaller settlements," he insisted. He called it an encouraging sign that the clearly unconstitutional decree which was contrary to European law could be resisted, "and must be resisted".

Until the town of Szigetszentmiklos's request for legal protection is ruled upon, "we are forced to take precautionary measures, including delaying payments to suppliers," Karacsony said. "But as before, our goal remains: to reclaim the money unlawfully taken from the people of Budapest and to shield their daily lives, as much as possible, from the consequences of this vile government policy for as long as we can."

Botond Sara, Budapest's government commissioner, said Karacsony was "constantly misleading Budapest residents" in connection with the solidarity tax.

In a post on Facebook, Sara said the government decree had closed a loophole that had allowed obligations to be circumvented, adding that Karacsony either "does not understand basic legal facts or is twisting them for political gain."

"It is always easier to cry scandal than take responsibility," Sara said. He said the solidarity tax was neither unconstitutional nor in breach of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, citing two Constitutional Court rulings.

Sara said the Budapest city council had never won a single case challenging the legality or amount of the solidarity tax, "and never could, because neither Hungarian law nor international treaties deem it unlawful". Courts had only addressed technical issues in the collection process, not the contribution's legal basis, he added.

Sara said that the mayor's budget -- based on the assumption of a 100 billion forint (EUR 262.8m) refund from previous solidarity tax payments -- was "based on fiction" and risked destabilising Budapest's finances.

"The government office has again called on Gergely Karacsony and his left-wing allies, including the Tisza Party, to revise and balance the budget with realistic revenue," Sara said.


Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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