Misleading translation and serious problems with the Hungarian draft Constitution

Three Hungarian NGOs, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Eotvos Karoly Institute and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee sent a public letter to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and the leaders of European Parliament groups to draw their attention to the fallacious translation of the draft Constitution. Moreover, we informed them about our analysis of the Constitution framing process and some dangerous points of the draft.

MEP József Szájer sent an invitation to the other MEPs for a Public Hearing in the European Parliament for 29th March, and attached an English translation of the Constitution to his letter. The translation is full of misleading parts (analysis pdf) which hide the true dangers of the draft Constitution of Hungary. The very controversial new preamble, the National Avowal of Faith, is literally omitted from the text. The idea of extending the right to vote to Hungarians residing in foreign countries is also missing from the text. Here you can download the most controversial omissions and misleading translations: .pdf. (The total list of translation errors can be downloaded here (pdf).

In our letter, we demanded Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, to play an active role in bringing clarity to the important questions of constitutionality (find our the letter here (doc). The Venice Commission is the constitutional law expert group of the Council of Europe. 

The three NGOs provided the European Parliament groups and the Secretary General with an authentic, not official, translation of the draft-Constitution of ruling parties. 

The three organizations are currently working on publishing joint analyses of the draft-Constitution. We have previously elaborated a critical analysis of the Hungarian Constitution framing process. This analysis is downloadable from here in pdf.

Share

Related articles

Advertisers Withdraw From Hungarian Newspaper Over Anti-Roma Statements

Five companies have said they will no longer place advertising in a Hungarian newspaper that published extreme anti-Roma statements.

NGOs Call for Advertising Boycott over Anti-Roma Statements in Hungarian Media

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) is joining with a coalition of Hungarian NGOs are calling on domestic companies and Hungarian divisions of multinationals to take a stand against hate speech in Hungary. The NGOS are asking, among others, Vodafone and T-Com, FEDEX, IKEA and Procter and Gamble to reconsider advertising in a Hungarian newspaper which published an article talking about Romani people in unacceptably racist and prejudiced language.

Comments on the Process of Framing the New Constitution of Hungary

The adoption of the new Hungarian Constitution will be, in all likelihood, the most influential domestic legislative act in the field of public law in the first half of 2011. The constitution writing process would be deemed a success if it would result in a substantial fundamental law providing a solid basis for the political community. However, when one takes into consideration the manner in which the new Constitution is being framed, it becomes increasingly difficult to conclude that it will be a success. The minimum requirement for creating a stable Constitution is that the fundamental law is adopted in a process which entails the possibility of the law being accepted by the overwhelming majority of society.

The current, highly unusual way of designing the Constitution makes one doubt whether this document will be worthy of being called the Constitution of Hungary. You can download our critical assessment (from here pdf) regarding the process of framing the new Constitution of Hungary.