The official position of Fidesz on the amendment of the constitution and the referendum on EU-accession

Dátum: 2002-12-06 11:27:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=6321
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 17:57:02.076851, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2

On 27 November, the government and the four parliamentary parties agreed on the details of the constitutional amendment to be passed by the National Assembly prior to Hungary's EU-accession, prospectively by the end of this year.

The wider context of the four-party negotations was already provided in the position paper distributed on 7 November. By mid-November, the debate in fact boiled down to three concrete issues, two substantial and one procedural:

- the extent to which sovereignty will be shared between Hungary and the European Union ("sovereignty clause"),

- the extent to which the National Assembly may mandate the government's position in future EU-negotiations,

- the date of the accession referendum.

"Sovereignty clause":

Share of jurisdiction between the National Assembly and the Government:

From the moment of accession, the Hungarian Government would also be a subject of negotiations among member states on various integration issues, and thus the question of negotiating mandates is of significant importance. The Medgyessy-government would limit the jurisdiction of the National Assembly in authorising negotating power to the Government to concrete areas stipulated by the Constitution as being obligatorily governed by law (there are about 40 such areas). Under this scheme, the government would get a negotiating mandate without parliamentary control in all the rest of the areas governed by law, not listed in the Constitution. Fidesz is of the opinion that parliamentary control over Hungary's position in future EU-institutions must remain solid. Consequently, in the cases if wished to, the National Assembly should be allowed to mandate negotiating authority by simple majority vote to the government in all areas governed by law, regardless of whether these areas are enumerated by the Constitution, or not.

There has been no compromise fixed during the negotations, but Fidesz did not intend to risk the success of the accession amendment, and hence proposed that this issue be removed from the current constitutional amendment and be regulated separately and in more detail in an act requring two-thirds majority in Parliament. During the last leg of the negotiations on 27 November, the government has accepted the proposal of Fidesz.

Referendum date:

Fidesz was insisting from the very beginning of the debate that the referendum must not precede the formulation of a final Hungarian text of the accession treaty. The government, on the other hand, insisted upon having the referendum prior to the signature of the accession treaty on 16 April in Athens. Fidesz argued that in the cases of previous enlargements, where referenda were held (Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Norway), they happened after signing the treaty. Austria was an exception because of domestic constitutional regulations. Fidesz also accepted the point of solidarity with other candidates. We agreed to have in Hungary a referendum first, because of the highest level of support of the enlargement. By this we hope to help to influence the public opinion of other candidate countries. Under the agreement reached on 2 December at the session of the Integration Grand Committee, the referendum would be held on 12 April, which is a sufficient guarantee that the text of the draft accession treaty will not be changed before the signature. Moreover, current indications suggest that a Hungarian translation would be ready by February. Therefore, in spite of still considering 12 April as being somewhat premature as a referendum date, Fidesz conceded at this point, deeming a long-term adequate arrangement of the "sovereignty clause" more important. Fidesz also accepted that the date and the text of the referendum be regulated in the Constitution, despite being a one-time settlement lapsing right after the referendum.

The agreement among the four parliamentary parties and the government concerning all the questions mentioned above was signed at the 2 December session of the Integration Grand Committee.

Budapest, 4 December 2002