Péter Magyar Proposes Constitutional Amendments to Oust President Sulyok
Quick Look
- Hungarian PM Péter Magyar has filed a 12-point constitutional amendment proposal aiming to remove President Tamás Sulyok and curb Viktor Orbán's past administration's influence.
- Key points include terminating the president's term, term limits for parliament, an independent Constitutional Court, and an asset recovery office.
AI-generated summary
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Saturday filed a 12-point proposal to amend the constitution aimed at ousting President Tamás Sulyok and to reduce the influence of the previous administration of Viktor Orbán.
One of the key points in the proposal that Magyar announced on social media is the “termination of the current president’s term of office.”
Other points include a three-term limit for members of the national parliament, the introduction of a more independent Constitutional Court, and a 70-year age limit for judges to serve, as well as the establishment of a National Asset Recovery and Asset Protection Office, to recover funds misappropriated during Orban’s rule. The current president of the court, Péter Polt, is 70, so the change would effectively end his term.
These points are bound to be approved by the legislature, given that the prime minister’s Tisza Party won an overwhelming parliamentary majority in April.
In a nearly hour-long speech to parliament last month, Magyar announced “Operation Purifying Fire” to root out what he called the “Orbán mafia.” He said that “we will free our country from the economic and political mafia.”
“I consider this my main task,” Magyar said.
The prime minister had demanded the president’s resignation immediately after winning the national election. Sulyok, a little-known judge, was elevated to the presidency in 2024 after his predecessor, Katalin Novák, stepped down due to her implication in a child sexual abuse scandal.
But Sulyok has since vowed not to leave office. His presidential term ends in 2029.
The European Commission has promised to free up billions of euros in EU funds if Magyar enacts sweeping reforms of Hungary’s judiciary, anti-corruption safeguards and public procurement.
According to local media, Magyar said that rebuilding Hungary cannot begin with the country’s most important constitutional dignitary remaining the same person who had “championed the government that dismantled the rule of law.”
And according to the same reports, the prime minister also announced that the new President of the Republic would be elected by the National Assembly, expected to happen as early as this summer.
