"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.


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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