Hungary to rename counties as castle districts, municipal and EP elections can be held at the same time

Mate Kocsis, the parliamentary group leader of Hungary's ruling Fidesz party, has proposed an amendment to the country's Fundamental Law. The amendment contains several changes aimed at preserving traditions.

POLITICS JUNE 22. 2022 12:12

The Hungarian parliament may introduce two amendments to the country’s Fundamental Law after Mate Kocsis, the parliamentary group leader of the larger ruling party – Fidesz – has tabled a motion to that effect. Based on the amendments, the municipal and European Parliament elections may be held simultaneously every five years, and counties, the basic units of Hungarian public administration, will be renamed „castle districts.”

The second part of the amendment motion emerged as an idea back in 2011, when the first version of Hungary’s Fundamental Law was created. The Hungarian word „varmegye” (literally: castle district) was officially used before 1949. Finally, the proposal was not incorporated into the constitution in 2011, but that may change now, the Hungarian Mandiner portal writes.

The group leader of Fidesz explained in the grounds of the bill that the name of the basic territorial administrative units would change in view of Hungary’s historical traditions and the achievements of the historical constitution, since counties were called „castle districts” from the foundation of the state until 1949. The use of the word county was abolished by the dictatorial communist regime, which wanted to completely break up with the former Hungarian constitutional and state administration system. The explanatory memorandum to the proposal states:

„Reinstating the use of the term ‘varmegye’ in today’s legal system ensures that the constitutional traditions of the one-thousand-year-old Hungarian statehood will continue to exist also in this form. Furthermore, the use of the word „varmegye” strengthens the idea of national cohesion, the preservation of our common historical memories and the national character of Hungarian democracy. By using the term ‘varmegye’ it can be better emphasized that the central motif of the Hungarian state organisation and state structure is the defence of national sovereignty and thereby the defence of the cornerstones of European civilisation.”

Mandiner recalls that the rehabilitation of historical expressions in administrative terminology is something revisited by the Fidesz-Christain Democrat (KDNP) governments. Reintroducing the use of the term ‘foispan’ (or supremus comes in Latin, a high-ranking official leading a larger territorial unit) to replace the term ‘government commissioner’ is one of the amendments to the budget bill presented on Tuesday. The justification of the proposal submitted by Finance Minister Mihaly Varga points out that the term ‘foispan’ would be reintroduced in the spirit of respecting and reviving historical traditions.

„Reintegrating the term ‘foispan’ into Hungary’s legal system will create an opportunity for today’s Hungarian public administration to become more closely linked to the set of concepts of the pre-communist Hungarian state administration and thereby the constitutional traditions of the one-thousand-year-old Hungarian statehood can continue to exist also in this form. There are numerous examples in European countries for the modern-age use of terms dating back to earlier periods,

the finance minister explained, when providing the background rationale for the proposal.

POLITICS

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government, Hungary, traditions