Hungary’s Constitutional Court annulled a widely disputed government decree on Wednesday, allowing courts to continue litigating cases involving a controversial “solidarity” tax imposed on wealthy cities.
The decree was issued in February using emergency powers outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government granted itself in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It concerned so-called “solidarity contributions” levied on wealthier cities to redistribute funds to poorer settlements.
Critics, including Budapest’s progressive mayor Gergely Karácsony – who launched a series of legal challenges against the measure – accused Orbán of using the tax to plug gaps in the central budget and bleed local government dry.
The February decree declared that the levies cannot be subject to litigation and instructed courts to terminate any ongoing cases, prompting widespread criticism from rights groups and legal associations, as well as concern from the European Union.
National Judicial Council (OBT), an independent self-governing body, appealed to the Constitutional Court on procedural grounds.
It reasoned that the decree was drafted without consulting the OBT as required by the law.
The “Constitutional Court found that, based on the arguments set forth in the OBT’s petition, the OBT’s appeal was well-founded, and therefore struck down the provisions challenged therein,” the top court said in a statement.
Karácsony welcomed the ruling as a “fitting conclusion” to the capital’s legal battles against the Orbán government.
“Let this Constitutional Court decision mark the end of that dark period, which was defined by our struggles against the bleeding dry and crippling of Budapest and the political punishment of the free city,” he said on Facebook.
The mayor also expressed hope that the capital can turn a page with the new government.
Incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar – a pro-EU conservative, who is set to sworn into office this Saturday – won a landslide victory in the 12 April election, ending the 16-year rule of nationalist Viktor Orbán.
His Tisza party’s manifesto promised that powers, resources, and responsibilities previously taken away would be returned to the municipalities.
(sma)
Source:
www.euractiv.com