What would Tom Lantos say?

„Concern about Fidesz's relentless centralisation of power is growing, domestically and internationally. Some even claim that Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, is engaged in an audacious attempt at reinventing the country, permanently etching the social and economic policies of his government into a new constitution. Backed by a two-thirds majority in parliament, the government is increasingly intolerant of dissent. Sometimes this can take surprisingly petty form. When a committee in charge of naming public places had the temerity to disagree with official proposals to rename Budapest Airport it was promptly dissolved and reconstituted, and several of its members lost their public-service jobs.

More ominous still were the words this week of the Venice Commission, which advises the Council of Europe, the body charged with overseeing human rights in its 47 European member states. Although it said it welcomed Hungary's democratic progress, the commission harshly criticised aspects of the new constitution, saying that it risked institutionalising the political preferences of the government.

The commission was particularly exercised over the numerous provisions for »cardinal laws«, which need a two-thirds majority vote in parliament to pass or alter in the future. »Cultural, religious, moral, socio-economic and financial policies should not be cemented in a cardinal law.« Such laws evince a worrying belief in the power of a strong, centralised state under the control of one party. Hungary, and its neighbours, should know all about that.”