The Dilemmas of Constitution-making – After 10 Years

Abstract

“The new Fundamental Law of Hungary was born in a storm.” 3 In the storm of heavy legal and political sentiments. The debates surrounding the birth of the Fundamental Law would have been a natural consequence of any new constitution being born in a state that undertook such a task after EU accession (the first of the new Member States that joined in 2004). The Hungarian constitution-making, which started in 2010, was a sort of mini laboratory medium. We landed in the centre of the democracy-focused attention of some of the institutions of the European Union. In addition, we have seen that almost all significant international organisations (UN, Council of Europe) considered that they should form an opinion on the Hungarian Fundamental Law.