According to the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, the way the opposition behaved in Parliament on Wednesday had been unprecedented since the fall of communism; it was an organised attempt to prevent decision-making.

On Wednesday on the public service television news channel M1, Csaba Dömötör highlighted that the attempt failed, the government-party Members of Parliament succeeded in preserving Parliament’s ability to adopt decisions, and they decided on important laws.

He said the opposition forcefully prevented the Speaker of the House from occupying his seat, and during his address, opposition MPs tried to drown him out with megaphones and loud speakers. They further occupied the Prime Minister’s chair and prevented him from casting his vote. An investigation will have to be conducted to determine in which instances the House Rules were violated, and whether the suspicion that the provisions of the Penal Code were also violated is well-founded, the Parliamentary State Secretary added.

Mr Dömötör said for years the opposition had been unable to offer the Hungarian people acceptable alternatives on fundamental issues, adding that during their governance they doubled unemployment.

He drew attention to the fact that the government in office today has doubled the minimum wage for qualified workers, and is conducting negotiations on further pay rises. At the same time, today 700,000 more people have jobs compared with 2010.

The Parliamentary State Secretary said the purpose of the amendment of the Labour Code was to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles, and to enable those who want to work more to do so.

István Kovács, Strategic Director of the Center for Fundamental Rights, took the view that events and incidents took place in the Chamber of Parliament which fall into categories under penal law.

According to the director, in addition to suspected crimes against personal freedom, “we may also speak of crimes against the state”.

He stressed that the participants of the disturbance also breached the oaths they took as Members of Parliament as electors did not send them to Parliament “to undermine constitutional order”, or to destroy their own and the whole House’s reputation.

(MTI)