LMP calls on government to clarify reason for constitutional amendments

Budapest, January 27 (MTI) – It is the government’s responsibility to prove that there is a legitimate need to amend the constitution to manage terrorist threats, green LMP party co-leader Andras Schiffer told public Kossuth Radio on Wednesday.

The defence ministry has proposed amending the constitution to include a “state of terrorist threat” among instances that mandate the domestic deployment of the armed forces.

Schiffer said that since it was the government that had proposed the amendments, “it is only natural” that it has more information on the subject than the opposition, and it must therefore be specific as to why the constitution must be amended.

Schiffer noted that the constitution already allows for the deployment of the army when the country is faced with threats of terrorism and there are currently five instances specified that allow for special measures to be enforced for national security reasons.

He said the Socialists and the radical nationalist Jobbik party had not yet elaborated on their decision to stay away from a meeting that LMP called for Monday on the subject. Schiffer said it was “strange” that they did not show up since “the opposition parties agree on several points concerning the issue”.