The top court’s new head: Constitutional Court defines boundaries of legislation
Budapest, March 1 (MTI) – The Constitutional Court is designed to delineate the boundaries of legislative action to make sure that laws are in line with the constitution rather than to block government measures, the top court’s new head told MTI on Sunday.
Barnabas Lenkovics said that the Constitutional Court is not supposed to get involved in politics and they must be “independent and impartial”. “At the same time, we need to be aware that law is not independent of politics, since legislation is aimed at resolving social problems,” he said.“It is important that the cooperation between institutions is for the good of the people, and improving the situation in the country,” he said.
Lenkovics said that the Constitutional Court should not become a kind of “supercourt”, a final court of appeals, since “it is not to do justice in individual cases” and argued that the top body is only to deal with cases in which a constitutional issue arises.
Lenkovics also said that under the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty the EU observes the national identity of member states, which includes a constitutional identity – to be safeguarded by the constitutional courts of each member. He said that the relationship between the constitutional identities of member states and European values “raises such sensitive issues” that can only be handled through “mutual respect and confidence”.
Photo: MTI
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters