Hungarian gov't seeks constitution changes to combat terrorism

Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter and Defense Minister Istvan Simicsko called for a constitutional amendment and changes in multiple laws to enhance security on Thursday following the Brussels bombings but the opposition is hesitant.

The constitutional amendment would allow the military to undertake policing tasks domestically, while other changes in laws would give police broader powers, allow phone tapping and data mining among the public, as well as access to private bank accounts among other things, and would alter the Penal Code.

All these measures require a parliamentary two-thirds majority to enact, meaning that the ruling Fidesz party will need help from at least one opposition group to garner the votes.

It would also establish a new anti-terrorism information center to analyze incoming information and support the bodies responsible for national security.

Pinter said the ideas in the new law would include preventing the public from using their phones in emergency situations, allowing text messages only.

The far right Jobbik party, which has the votes to enable government to implement its plans, issued a statement saying it was ready to support all measures that truly served to make the Hungarian public more secure.

Jobbik spokesman Adam Mirkoczki said his party agreed on the need to tighten up a number of laws but warned the government that the public was not naive, and the government should not play on their fears to tighten its grip on power.

The left-wing Socialist party, which also has the votes, said it was ready to discuss all measures to heighten public security. Zsolt Molnar, who chairs Parliament's national security committee and Tamas Harangozo, deputy chair of the defense and law enforcement committee said the Interior Ministry needed to work together with the parties in parliament before and not after designing the government bill, as Pinter had proposed.

The Socialists said they were ready to support all proposals to boost security with sufficient and satisfactory guarantees that the rights of the public would not be unjustifiably restricted.

The smaller left-wing Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party called the proposed measure a package designed to achieve total social control, as spokesman Bence Tordai put it, "much like Putin in Russia and Erdogan in Turkey."

Reducing the risk of a terrorist attack, said Tordai, required intelligence operations, and only one tenth of the staff at the Anti-Terrorism Center worked in intelligence, hinting that this was where efforts needed to be concentrated.

The even smaller Liberal Party argued that current legal means were quite sufficient to prevent a terrorist attack. The secret services had the powers to prevent an attack under current law, it said in a written response to the government. Endit