The European Parliament’s Patriots for Europe group has sharply condemned the Hungarian government’s proposed constitutional amendment limiting prime ministerial tenures to two terms, describing the measure as a politically motivated attempt to eliminate Viktor Orbán from democratic competition.
In a statement issued on Thursday, May 21st, the group denounced what critics have labelled “Lex Orbán,” arguing that retroactively applying term limits (in this case, to 1990) would violate the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
In a democratic system, laws must not be drafted with the purpose of eliminating a specific political actor from public life,
the statement declared, warning that such “tailor-made legislation” would set a dangerous precedent in Europe.
Patriots for Europe Group rejects tailor-made legislation and the restrictions of political competition in Hungary.
The proposal would restrict any Hungarian prime minister to a maximum of eight years in office and would count time served since 1990. If passed, Orbán—Hungary’s longest-serving post-communist leader—would be permanently barred from returning to power.
Conservative opposition parties have accused the Tisza government of prioritising political revenge over governance, noting that the new government’s first major constitutional initiative is aimed not at economic reform, but at excluding its most formidable rival from future elections.
Gergely Gulyás, parliamentary group leader of Orbán’s Fidesz party, questioned why the new government appeared so focused on Orbán.
In a Facebook post, Gulyás wrote that since Hungary’s democratic transition in 1990, voters, not constitutional manoeuvres, had decided who governs the country. He accused the Tisza Party of attempting to sideline Orbán because it fears his eventual political comeback.
Political analyst Zoltán Kiszelly argued that the amendment was designed to preserve the anti-Orbán political atmosphere that helped bring Tisza to power. Speaking to conservative outlet Magyar Nemzet, Kiszelly said the proposal appeared intended to prevent Orbán from staging a return similar to those achieved by Silvio Berlusconi or Donald Trump.
The analyst also criticised the retroactive nature of the legislation, arguing that such lawmaking “is not customary in a democracy.” He said the Constitutional Court could eventually be asked to review the amendment’s legality.
According to Patriots for Europe, “the proposal put forward by the EPP-affiliated Tisza Party fits into a broader European political trend aimed at excluding patriotic and sovereigntist forces from democratic competition.”
In Germany, parties from the far left to the centre-right are also using a wide range of legal tools to prevent the most popular party, the right-wing AfD from gaining power. In Poland, liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government wants to undermine the credibility of the conservative opposition PiS party by indicting its politicians concerning “rule of law violations.” In France, the right-wing National Rally’s Marine Le Pen has been barred from running in next year’s presidential elections on trumped-up charges.
Zoltán Kottász is a journalist for europeanconservative.com, based in Budapest. He worked for many years as a journalist and as the editor of the foreign desk at the Hungarian daily, Magyar Nemzet. He focuses primarily on European politics.
