Hungarian Gov't Redefines Public Money in Fundamental Law

This Tuesday, the governing majority in Hungarian Parliament passed the 9th modification to the Fundamental Law (that is, the country's consitution) since that was adopted in 2011, redefining public money and the concept of family, among others.

The amendment defines the concept of public money "in order to develop a uniform practice for constitutional bodies." According to the new definition, public money includes “the revenues, expenditures and claims of the state.” Critics claim this amendment makes it impossible in many cases to follow where and how taxpayers' money is spent. This applies primarily to public money transferered to public trusts.

Defining Hungarian family, the amendment says “Hungary protects the institution of marriage as the association between a man and a woman and the family as the basis for the survival of the nation. The foundation of the family is marriage and the parent-child relationship. The mother is a woman, the father is a man.”