Secular Hungary

Thursday 7 October 2010

Financial audit and the constitution

Have you ever thought about the wide range of fields a state audit office has to be familiar with? In Hungary, this also includes comment on the bases of our constitituion, which the government and the president appointed by the ruling party want to change (allegedly because the present one is the 'communist' constitution of 1949 - while actually, as the saying goes, the only part of it that hasn't been changed after the fall of communism is the date of issuing).
Anyway, the Hungarian Court of Auditors (Állami Számvevőszék), which got some notoriety for deciding financial disputes between the state and the (catholic) church in favour of the church, has been asked to give its point of view on the constituton. Here's is what they issued:

"Proposals of the Court of Auditors
Consttitutional rules on state finances
Requirements [...]
- The Constitution of Hungary has to open a new chapter in our history. It has to close down the post-communist legislational and social progress.
- The Hungarian people needs a loveable and repectable basic law that serves social renewal and integrates experiences made.
- The new constitution has to express both in its structure and content that based on our historical heritage of 1100 years we  wish to establish a set of norms applicable in the 21st century. Therefore among others the following have to be referred to in the preamble:
  • the Holy Crown as a preeminent relic of history,
  • the impact of Christianity on the development and strenghtening of the moral firmness of the nation 
[...]
Cited at: http://galamus.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31745:az-asz-javaslata-az-uj-alkotmanyhoz&catid=79:kiemelt-hirek&Itemid=115