Hungarian government scraps concept of separate administrative courts

The Hungarian government decided to scrap the idea of a separate administrative court system for good, Minister of Justice Varga Judit told state newswire MTI on Thursday, adding that they are working on a bill that is supposed to make administrative adjudication faster and more predictable.

Judit Varga said that back in the spring, the government made the decision to indefinitely postpone introducing the separate administrative court system, but now, after exhaustive debates on the topic, they decided to keep the unified court system to spare the judiciary from "futile disputes." 

The bill currently being prepared would provide a clear framework for administrative litigation, make legal remedies faster and the practice more predictable, Varga said, adding that they are planning to submit the proposal to the Parliament during its autumn session.

Varga said that the concept of the administrative courts stands up to scrutiny against European and international norms, and even the Venice Commission deemed them acceptable during the spring, and the government's decision was in no way motivated by international disputes.

As we have reported in June, when Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyás announced that the government postpones introducing the new courts, he said that the government does not want to expose Hungary to an infringement procedure similar to the one against Poland concerning the changes made to their court system, and the detailed reasoning of the bill on the matter also stated: 

"The goal of this proposal is to make sure that the continued progress in the establishment of the separated administrative court system does not hamper the efforts of reassuringly settling the disputes about the unfounded criticism against Hungary's rule-of-law situation."

(Cover: Hungarian Minister of Justice Judit Varga. Photo: Zsolt Szigetváry / MTI)