Debating the Hungarian Constitution
The new Hungarian Constitution, the Fundamental Law of Hungary that entered into force on 1 January 2012 has attracted a great deal of criticism and debate worldwide. Hailed by its proponents as the act that completed the transition to democracy, it was criticized by others as an undertaking that ends constitutional democracy in Hungary by removing checks on the power of the government and putting virtually all power into the hands of the current governing party for the foreseeable future.
The Roundtable discussion will raise fundamental issues linked to the Hungarian Constitution inviting key participants and observers of the Hungarian constitution making process:
Jozsef Szajer
MEP, Vice-Chair of the European People's Party and Chairman of the group who drafted the New Hungarian Constitution
Zita Gurmai
MEP, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament
Gabor Halmai
Director of the Institute of Political and International Studies (Budapest) and Visiting Professor at the Princeton University.
Andras Jakab
Schumpeter Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg. Editor of the Commentary of the Hungarian Constitution.
The event is organized by the Department of Political and Social Sciences , the European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO) and supported by the EUI Presidency.