Parliament

- Constitution of Hungary

Chapter II - Parliament

Article 19

(1) Parliament is the supreme organ of State power and popular representation in the Republic of Hungary.

(2) Exercising its rights deriving from the sovereignty of the people, Parliament ensures the consitutional order of society, and determines the organization, orientation and conditions of government.

(3) Within this competence, parliament

a) enacts the Constitution of the Republic of Hungary;

b) frames laws;

c) defines the social and economic objectives of the country;

d) checks the balance of State finances and approves the Budget and its implementation;

c) decides about the adoption of the Government programme;

f) ratifies the international treaties that are of outstanding significance for the external relations of the Republic of Hungary;

g) decides on the declaration of a state of war and the questions of concluding peace;

h) in case of a state of war or of the immediate threat of armed attack by a foreign power (the danger of war) it proclaims a state of emergency and sets up the National Defence Council;

i) In case of armed action aiming to overthrow the constitutional order to gain absolute power, in cases of acts of violence committed with arms or by armed units that jeopardize the lives and material security of citizens on a mass scale, of natural disasters or serious industrial accidents (hereinafter: emergency) it declares a state of emergency;

j) decides on the use of the armed forces outside or inside the country;

k) elects the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the members of the Constitutional Court, the ombudsmen to deal with the observation of civil rights and the rights of national and ethnic minorities, the president and vice-presidents of the State Audit Office, the president of the Supreme Court and the chief prosecutor;

1) on the proposition of the Government submitted after consultation with the Constitutional Court, dissolves local representative bodies whose operation has been found unconsitutional; decides on the geographical boundaries, the names, and seats of counties; on the re-registration of some townships as cities of county status; and on any changes in the borders of the districts of the capital city;

m) exercises general amnesty.

(4) For decisions on the cases enumerated in points g), h), i) and j) of para (3), the votes of two thirds of the Members of Parliament are necessary.

(5) A national plebiscite may be called by Parliament if the decision is supported by the votes of two thirds of the MPs present at the time.

Article 19/A

If Parliament is prevented from making the decisions concerned, the President of the Republic may call for a state of war, announce a state of emergency, set up the National Defence Council, and proclaim a state of extreme danger.

(2) Parliament is to be considered incapacitated if it is not in session and convening it is impossible because of the shortness of time, or because of the events that have caused the state of war, the emergency, or crisis.

(3) The fact of incapacitation, and therefore the need for proclaiming an emergency or crisis, is verified by the Speaker of Parliament, the President of the Constitutional Court and the Prime Minister jointly.

(4) At its first session after its incapacitation, Parliament supervises the justification of a state of war, state of emergency or crisis, and decides about the legitimacy of the measures taken. To carry such a decision, the votes of two thirds of the Members of Parliament are required.

Article 19/B

(1) In case of an emergency, the National Defence Council decides about the deployment of the armed forces outside or inside the country and the introduction of the emergency measures defined in a separate law.

(2) The President of the Republic presides over the National Defence Council. The members of the Council are: the Speaker of Parliament, the leaders of the factions of the parties represented in Parliament, the Prime Minister, the ministers, and the commander and chief of staff of the Army.

(3) The National Defence Council exercises;

a) the rights temporarily vested in it by Parliament

b) the rights of the President of the Republic, and

c) the rights of the Government.

(4) The National Defence Council may pass decrees in which it may suspend the force of certain laws or deviate from certain legal provisions. It may also pass other special measures, but must not suspend the Constitution.

(5) Unless Parliament acts to prolongue their validity, decrees passed by the National Defence Council go out of force as soon as the given state of emergency is over.

(6) Not even a state of emergency may limit the operation of the Constitutional Court.

Article 19/C

(1) If Parliament is prevented from taking action during a state of emergency, decision on the deployment of armed forces is up to the President of the Republic.

(2) During a state of crisis(peril) the emergency measures defined in a separate law are introduced by a decree of the President of the Republic.

(3) The President of the Republic informs without delay the Speaker of Parliament about the emergency measures introduced. During any period of emergency, Parliament - or if the former is hindered, the National Defence Committee of Parliament - remains in session. Parliament, or the National Defence Committee, is free to suspend emergency measures the President of the Republic has called for.

(4) The emergency measures decreed remain in effect for thirty days unless their validity has been extended by Parliament, or, if Parliament is inhibited, by its National Defence Committee.

(5) The same rules are to be applied in a state of peril, extreme danger as in a state of emergency.

Article 19/D

To pass a law on the detailed rules applicable during a state of emergency, peril or crisis, the affirmative votes of two thirds of the MPs present are necessary.

Article 20

(1) Parliament is elected for a term of four years.

(2) Members of Parliament act in the public interest.

(3) Members of parliament are entitled to immunity as defined and regulated in the law on their legal status.

(4) Members of Parliament are entitled to fees to ensure their independence, to certain benefits, and to compensation to cover costs.

To pass a law on the amount of the fee, the sums of compensation and on the range of special concessions, the votes of two thirds of the MPs present are required.

(5) No Member of Parliament may become President of the Republic, member of the Constitutional Court, ombudsman; president, vice-president or accountant of the State Audit Office; judge or prosecutor; or - except for members of the Government and political state secretaries - work in any organ of state administration. No MP may be a regular or hold professional status in the armed forces, in the police and in any security force. The law may also establish other cases of incompatibility.

(6) To pass the law on the legal status of Members of Parliament, the votes of two thirds of the MPs present are necessary.

Article 20/A

(1) The mandate of a Member of Parliament is terminated

a) with the end of the term of Parliament,

b) with the death of a MP,

c) with the demise of the MP concerned,

d) when incompatibility is declared,

e) if the MP is disfranchised.

(2) If a reason is cited for incompatibility (para (5),

Article 20) by any representative of the House against a Member of Parliament, Parliament decides whether to pronounce incompatibility.

(3) Addressing a statement to this effect to Parliament, an MP may give up his mandate. No confirmatory statement from Parliament is necessary for the resignation to be valid.

Article 21

(1) Parliament elects its Speaker, deputy speakers, and Clerk from among its members.

(2) Parliament sets up standing committees from among its members and may delegate a committee to investigate any given question.

(3) Data requested by parliamentary committees must not be denied; anybody summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee is obliged to do so.

Article 22

(1) Parliament holds regular sessions twice a year - from February 1 to June 15, and from September 1 until December 15.

(2) The constituent session of Parliament is convened - for a date within one month after the elections - by the President of the Republic. Otherwise it is the duty of the Speaker of Parliament to convene sessions - and each individual sitting - of Parliament.

(3) If this is requested by the President of the Republic, by the Government, or by one fifth of the MPs, Parliament must be convened for a special session or special meeting. The request has to specify the reason for convening Parliament, the date(s) proposed, and the agenda to be followed.

(4) The President of Parliament may adjourn - for no more than thirty days - a session of Parliament on one occasion during any given session.

(5) During the adjournment period, the President of the Republic is obliged to convene Parliament if one fifth of the MPs petition this in writing, within eight days of his receipt of the request.

Article 23

The meetings of Parliament are open to the public. However, on the request of the President of the Republic, the Government, or any MP, Parliament may call for a meeting in camera if the request is supported by two thirds of the Members of Parliament.

Article 24

(1) Parliament has a quorum when more than half of the MPs are present.

(2) Parliament passes a decision with the affirmative votes of over half of the MPs present.

(3) For the amendment of the Constitution, or for passing certain decisions defined in the Constitution, the affirmative votes of two thirds of the Members of Parliament are required.

(4) Parliament lays down the rules of procedure and the order of debates in standing orders for which the votes of two thirds of the MPs present are required.

Article 25

(1) Legislation may be initiated by the President of the Republic, the Government, any parliamentary committee and any Member of Parliament.

(2) The right of legislation is vested in Parliament.

(3) Acts passed by Parliament are signed by the Speaker and sent to the President of the Republic.

Article 26

(1) Within fifteen days - or, if the Speaker of Parliament so requests, within five days - of receipt of the law framed, the President of the Republic endorses it and sees to its promulgation. Ratified Acts of Parliament have to be published in the Official Gazette.

(2) If the President of the Republic does not accept the law or some of its provisions, he may, before signing it but within the deadline set in para (1), send it back with his comments to Parliament for reconsideration.

(3) Parliament debates the law anew and decides on enactment again. After the reconsidered Act has been returned to him, the President of the Republic is bound to sign it and to promulgate it within five days of its receipt.

(4) If the President of the Republic thinks that any provision of the law may be unconstitutional, he sends it within the deadline set in para (1) to the Constitutional Court before singing it, and requests a report on its constitutionality.

(5) If the Constitutional Court, after proceeding on the law with the requested urgency, has found it unconstitutional, the President of the Republic returns the law to Parliament. Otherwise, he is bound to sign the Act and promulgate it within five days.

Article 27

Members of Parliament may put questions to the ombudsmen (parliamentary commissioners) for the implementation of civil, and national and ethnic minority rights, to the president of the State Audit Office, and to the president of the Hungarian National Bank; and address interpellations and questions to the Government, to any member of the Government, and to the Chief Prosecutor (Attorney General) on any matter that falls within their competence.

Article 28

(1) The mandate of Parliament commences with its constituent meeting.

(2) Parliament may proclaim its dissolution even before the expiry of its mandate.

(3) The President of the Republic may dissolve Parliament simultaneously with setting the dates for the new election if

a) Parliament has at least four times within twelve months during its own mandate withdrawn its confidence from the Government, or

b) in case the mandate of the Government had ended, Parliament failed to elect within forty days after the date of the first nomination, the candidate prime-minister put up for the office by the President of the Republic.

(4)

(5) Before dissolving Parliament, the president of the Republic is bound to consult with the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament and with the heads of the factions of the parties that have representatives in Parliament.

(6) Within three months after the expiry of the term of parliament, its dissolution or its being dissolved, a new Parliament has to be elected. Parliament operates until the constituent meeting of the new Parliament.

Article 28/A

(1) During the period of an emergency, Parliament may not declare its dissolution and may not be dissolved.

(2) If the term of Parliament expires during an emergency, its mandate is automatically extended until the end of the peril.

(3) A Parliament that has dissolved or been dissolved may be reconvened by the President of the Republic in case of a state of war, the threat of war, or any other emergency situation. In that case, Parliament itself decides on the extension of its mandate.