Hungarian President János Áder announced Wednesday night in a public television address that he will sign the fourth amendment to the Constitution, which was accepted in Parliament Monday afternoon by 265 votes to 11 with 33 abstentions.
The bill overturns earlier Constitutional Court rulings and limits the Court's ability to challenge future Parliament decisions. It includes:
- Regulations on political advertisements in publicly run media during election times
- Required pledges from university students seeking state grants to work in Hungary for a certain period of time after graduation
- Fines or prison terms for homeless people found sleeping on the streets
With this ruling, it will also be written into the Constitution that the Parliament alone is allowed to grant religious status to a religious community; a provision the Constitutional Court previously ruled unconstitutional at the end of February.
Amy Lester