Letters from Turkey
My dear Aunt,
you said prime minister Mr. Viktor Orbán can prove that the new laws in Hungary are not unprecedented For every single line of the new laws he can present a precedent in the jurisdiction of this or that European country. If true, why is the EU attacking Mr. Orbán so vehemently?
It can be true. It can be true that there is a precedent for creating a National Jurisdiction Office and give it power and influence on all matters. It's not unheard of to appoint it's president for 9 long years. To lower the retirement age of judges from 70 to 62 without any transition is probably unprecedented, but it does not affect democracy. Hundreds of new judges will be appointed this year and thousands of cases will be re-opened, well, fine, this is the direct consequence of changing the act on retirement, no problem with that. So us Huns should not worry, there is nothing new or antidemocratic in this law.
However, put these all together: the most powerful position is filled for 9 years, this person has tremendous influence on the appointment of hundreds of judges this year, and will apoint dozens to the preemptied leading positions, all these together is worrisome. And by the way, that person happens to be the wife of an influential Fidesz politician.
Or take just one aspect of the new law on higher education. The accreditation committees are critical in maintaining the quality of higher education. To be effective, accreditation boards should be independent of governments, political parties, churches, practically everything, perhaps even of themselves. "ENQA considers the autonomy of institutions and independence of quality assurance agencies within national HE systems as a necessary condition to ensure the full exercise of their responsibilities, notably with regard to the provision of accurate and consistent information to the general public." http://www.enqa.eu/mission.lasso
First of all in the new law the word “independent” was omitted. No big deal, perhaps the way the Committee is set up will ensure independence. Well, the Committee has 12 members, 6 of which will be delegated by the minister of education (or of whatever, as names of those institutions change with every government) and 6 members by the president of the Hungarian Academy of Science. The chairman of the Committee is appointed by the minister with the approval of the academy. So is this board independent of the government? Is there no way for the minister to influence members delegated by him/her? And again, you should know that accidentally, the president of the Academy is a former minister of education in the former Fidesz government. So the former and the present ministers of education decide on the members of the independent Accreditation Committee.
You should know I do trust the integrity of these two gentlemen, profs. Miklós Réthelyi and József Pálinkás . I cannot trust the minister or president of the future, I do not know who they will be. Even if I trust them, is it not worrying, that the Committee evaluating the quality of every institution will have members delegated by two openly religious, Christian conservatives?
My sweet aunt, you do not spend so much time in the kitchen as I do, but you will still appreciate this metaphor. Hungarian goulash (which is a soup) is delicious with its beef, vegetables, sweet and hot paprika. Sour cherry soup is another favourite of mine: the fruits floating in the cold liquid with heavy cream, sugar and cinnamon. Perfect ingredients. So we can combine them as we wish: let us fry some cherries in hot lard, add the cream and beef , spice it with hot paprika and cinnemon and serve it lukewarm. Indigestible! Quite a surprise for Mr. Orban, because there is precedent for each of these ingredients to be used in famous dishes. Sure, but not for this unique combination.
This Viktorian era (my spell checker wants to change Viktorian to Victorian, Viktorian apparently does not have any sence :-) in Hungary is indeed a unique combination of many good things.
