Goulash soup

„The Socialists, the green-liberal LMP and the far-right Jobbik are all demanding more consultation and a referendum. But since the draft of the constitution has been under discussion since last summer, the government has given lawmakers just a month’s debate. It will be voted through on April 18th. President Pal Schmitt, an emollient Fidesz loyalist, is expected to sign it on April 25th.

Rather than negotiate with the opposition, the government has distributed questionnaires about the constitution to 8m voters. It has promised to take note of their answers. Fidesz’s two-thirds majority gives it the right to change the constitution, says Jozsef Szajer, a Fidesz MEP who partly drafted the new version on his iPad. Moreover, he adds, referendums on constitutional matters are not permitted.

The Socialists and the LMP (but not Jobbik) are boycotting the process. A gross abnegation of responsibility to their voters, says Mr Szajer. But Fidesz is reaping what it sowed: when Ferenc Gyurcsany, the former Socialist prime minister, spoke in parliament, Fidesz MPs walked out. The government wanted the LMP to take part in the drafting process, insists Tamas Boros, of Policy Solutions, a think-tank, as that would have given the new constitution more legitimacy.

The document is a mixed bag of history and modernity. Provisions on Christianity, the holy crown, connections to ethnic Hungarians living abroad, the definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman and repeated references to Hungary’s historical constitution are all designed to keep the right happy. Greens will welcome a commitment to preserve the environment and biodiversity. Human trafficking is outlawed. Public debt will be limited to 50% of GDP. The name Hungary replaces the Hungarian Republic.”