Laws criticized by Strasbourg are no longer in effect, says speaker of the national assembly László Kövér. The European Court of Human Rights stated on Tuesday that the Hungarian parliament had harmed free speech by fining the opposition party LMP (Politics Can be Different) and PM (Dialogue for Hungary) parties for acts of protest in the chamber.
Parliament’s Press Office said that Speaker László Kövér had acknowledged the Strasbourg Court’s ruling, but noted that the criticized regulations are no longer in effect. An amended Parliament Act, which came into effect on May 6, 2014, when a new parliament was formed after the general election, had already put in place options for members of parliament to seek legal recourse if their salaries were reduced, the office said.
Parliament has no more responsibilities in connection with Tuesday’s ruling, as the new house rules are fully in line with the Treaty of Rome, by allowing lawmakers to seek redress from parliament’s immunities committee or even parliament itself over decisions involving their pay cuts, it added.
Last year several opposition MPs were handed fines for putting up a signs during parliamentary sessions, criticizing the government’s policies. The protests were against tobacco concessions and government-initiated changes to the law on the freedom of information. The house fined the MPs for third of their salaries.
via HungaryMattesr, MTI photo László Komka