Govt to draft new legislation on right to assembly

Budapest, July 12 (MTI) – The government will draft a new bill on the right to assembly, following through with a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court, Hungary’s justice minister said on Tuesday.

The top court ruled earlier on Tuesday that parliament should enact appropriate public assembly legislation by the end of the year as the current regulations are conflicting concerning the constitutional right to assembly and the right to privacy.

László Trócsányi told a press conference that the new legislation will take into account the practice directions of the European Court of Human Rights and the opinions of legal experts and authorities. The government will also initiate talks on the bill with parliament’s five parties.

The minister attributed the problems with the public assembly law to the regulations being incomplete and difficult to interpret or implement.

Trocsanyi noted that the Constitutional Court had sought clarification to the legislation as early as 2008 when it said lawmakers had not taken into consideration the way demonstration culture had changed over time.