Constitutional Protection of Social Security before and after the Fundamental Law Entered into Force

Abstract

This paper explores and compares the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court regarding social security before and after the new Constitution entered into force in 2012. The wording of the new Fundamental Law of Hungary was said to be more restrained and modest regarding social rights, as it does not explicitly stipulate such rights. In this paper I try to come up with a conclusion as to whether the level of protection of social security in the case law of the Hungarian Constitutional Court also became lower after 2012. From our analysis of the practice of the Constitutional Court we can conclude that despite the fact that the wording of the new Constitution seemed to be more restrained and modest regarding social security, the constitutional protection of social security has not declined drastically in the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court, because the Constitutional Court did not interpret the right to social security as a real constitutional right before 2012, but only as a state obligation.