Venice Commission's forthcoming opinion on the new Hungarian Constitution
19/05/2011
Background - The request to prepare an opinion on the new Hungarian constitution was addressed to the Venice Commission by the head of the Monitoring Committee of the PACE Dick Marty on 25.04.2011
In March 2011, at the request of the Hungarian government, the Venice Commission already adopted an opinion on three legal questions which arose in the process of drafting the new constitution. In this opinion it expressed concern about the very rapid procedure for adopting the Constitution.
Visit - On 17-18 May 2011 a delegation of the Venice Commission visited Hungary in the framework of the preparation of this opinion which is to be discussed and adopted in the presence of a representative of the Hungarian government at the next plenary session of the Venice Commission in Venice, 17-18.06.2011.
The members of the Venice Commission’s delegation were:
- T. Markert, Director, Secretary of the Commission,
- C. Grabenwarter, Austrian member, Judge, Constitutional Court of Austria
- H. Suchocka, Polish member, Ambassador of Poland to the Holy See, Embassy of Poland, Former PM of Poland
- K. Tuori, Finnish member, Professor of Jurisprudence, Department of Public Law, University of Helsinki
- J. Velaers, Belgian member, Professor, University of Antwerp
- A.-T. Chisca, Head of the Democratic Institutions and Fundamental Rights, Venice Commission secretariat
During its visit to Budapest, the delegation met with all political forces represented in the Hungarian parliament and representatives of civil society.
The rapporteurs and the secretariat have acquired the necessary background information to prepare the draft opinion.
The delegation is grateful to the authorities for the excellent organisation of the visit.
Press - The opinion will be public upon adoption and will be posted on the Commission’s website www.venice.coe.int.
For accreditation at the plenary please contact: Tatiana Mychelova, External Relations, Venice Commission
Tel. +33 (0)3 88 41 38 68, tatiana.mychelova@coe.int
The Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe made up of independent legal experts. It gives legal opinions on national and international legislation upon request; it also produces studies on topics of particular transnational interest, spelling out the standards and practices in its member states.