It is important to clarify the role of judges because if judges re-interpret the law or put an extensive construction on a term or concept which is contrary to that intended by the legislator, it leads to judicial governance, which is profoundly anti-democratic, Justice Minister László Trócsányi spoke about this in an interview given to the newspaper Magyar Idők. He added that judges are even capable of influencing political struggles in the course of the administration of political cases.

In the Saturday issue of Magyar Idők, Mr Trócsányi rejected criticisms from opposition politicians and certain professional circles who immediately envision the violation of judicial independence if the Justice Minister utters the word ‘court’. He stressed that judicial independence is a fixed star of democracy, and during his work he pays maximum attention to ensuring that the independence of judges is not in any way curtailed. In his words, “That in a democracy a justice minister has and can have a certain role and an opinion about the administration of justice is nothing to be feared”.

He also said that administrative courts are the corner stones of the rule of law.

“The fact that since 1989 organisationally separate administrative courts have not been set up clearly indicates that this institution has always been treated as a stepchild within the judicial organisation. Today we have an opportunity to set the goal of creating an independent Supreme Administrative Court – which was abolished by the communist party state in 1949 – with which we can repay a historical debt.”

Regarding the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights, Mr Trócsányi said “the court plays an important role in protecting human rights; it is a fact, however, that the Member States often criticise the judgements of the Strasbourg court as in some instances it interferes in issues which concern the very essence of Member State sovereignty. Some judges believe they have been tasked with defining the values of European society, despite the fact that they did not involve the people or the people’s representatives in the process of defining those values”.

(MTI)