A person is either male or female, drugs and Pride are banned – Hungarian Parliament adopts 15th constitutional amendment

On Monday afternoon, by 140 votes in favour and 21 against, the Fidesz majority in Parliament passed the 15th Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, against which there have been protests in Budapest for several weeks. From now on, the country’s Fundamental Law is going to state that there are only two genders: male or female, that the use and distribution of drugs is not allowed and that the protection of children takes precedence even over the right to freedom of assembly. The amendment also allows for a person's Hungarian citizenship to be suspended, and authorizes the police to ban the Pride Parade. The Fundamental law was amended on nine points.

Opposition party Momentum tried to disrupt the vote by honking horns, and they held up a banner with the words "You may ban us, but you can't ban the truth".

“The local protesters will get to enjoy their well-deserved reward.”

– János Latorcai, who chaired the meeting, commented.

Jobbik MPs left the chamber before the vote, while several opposition parties did not even show up for the session. Other than Fidesz-KDNP, the proposal was supported by the faction of the far right Mi Hazánk.

1. Banning Pride

In the future, holding a rally that promotes gender reassignment and homosexuality will be banned, with organisers and participants liable to fines of up to HUF 200,000 (EUR 488). This is what the amendment to the law on assemblies adopted a few weeks ago, designed to ban Pride, states. With Monday's vote, the restriction on the constitutional right to free assembly has been incorporated into the Fundamental Law.

“Every child has the right to the protection and care necessary for his or her proper physical, mental and moral development. This right takes precedence over all other fundamental rights, with the exception of the right to life.”

– the amendment to the Fundamental Law that has just been voted through, states. Fidesz intends to use this amendment to prevent the organizers of Pride from invoking the right to freedom of assembly and expression when the police deny permission for the event traditionally held in June.

However, according to Máté Szabó, director of programs at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), even after the amendment to the Fundamental Law, other fundamental rights, such as the right of assembly and of freedom of expression, cannot be unconditionally curtailed. Only the right to life and dignity enjoy absolute protection in the Fundamental Law, since curtailing someone's right to life is not exactly possible.

According to the lawyer of TASZ, the current constitutional amendment makes it difficult to infer the prohibition of Pride. Fundamental rights can only be restricted to a necessary and proportionate extent, and the restriction must be suitable for reaching the desired goal. If these three conditions are not met at the same time, then Pride cannot be banned on the grounds of children's rights, because how could the rights of children in other parts of the country be violated by the gathering?

2. Male or female only

In his annual State of the Nation address in February, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that "A person is either male or female, period," and promised that this would soon be added to the Fundamental Law, which is what happened now. As Fidesz MPs put it, the amendment confirms that a person's gender at birth is a biological characteristic, with only two options available: male or female.

According to the authors of the amendment, it is the responsibility of the state to ensure the legal protection of this natural order and to prevent attempts suggesting that it is possible to change the gender a person was born with.

“Having the biological genders firmly established in this way ensures the healthy development of society as well as the preservation of basic community norms.”

– the Fidesz MPs proposal states. They argue that this is not an attack on those whose identity does not match their gender at birth, because that is a private matter. But they argue that if gender reassignment were legally allowed, it would be "a starting point for a whole series of legal consequences that would then lead to a number of legal and social uncertainties, in areas such as family law, public law and social welfare".

The amendment is simply incorrect from a biological and scientific point of view, academic, geneticist and immunologist András Falus said in an interview with Klubrádió. He spoke about the two extremes: men who have sex chromosomes called XY, and women who have XX sex chromosomes. But there are also a lot of transitional figures in addition to these. Approximately 0.8-2.5 percent of the population are so-called intersex people. "To say that a person is either male or female in this sense marginalises a truly significant number of people, which is something that is incredibly unfair, stigmatising and not in line with the most basic understanding of biology and genetics," the academic added.

3. The right to using cash

The long-standing proposal on the defence of the use of cash advocated by Mi Hazánk was also included in the constitution. Until now, the Fundamental Law only stated that "everyone has the right to own and inherit property". This sentence has now been updated to read:

“Everyone has the right to own and inherit property and to pay with cash.”

Fidesz justified this by saying that "only the continued circulation of cash can ensure that the functioning of the economy does not become completely subordinated to electronic financial systems, which may be vulnerable due to technolgoical or market factors". This is the basis for a bill which is already being drafted that will require ATMs to be installed in every settlement in the country, even villages.

4. Drugs are banned

In 2013, the Orbán government set the goal of making Hungary completely drug-free by 2020. The reality, however, is that at the beginning of 2025, drug users and drug traffickers have not disappeared from the country. In fact, cheap designer drugs, available even on the internet, produced and sold specifically to circumvent drug laws have literally overrun the impoverished regions of Hungary.

"There is a problem here," the Prime Minister said in his annual State of the Nation address in February, as if he were just realizing this. He pledged that they would launch a manhunt and curb the drug epidemic "literally at any cost". He also appointed László Horváth, an MP from Gyöngyös as government commissioner for the job and set up a new 210-strong police unit comprised of investigators and special operatives.

The wording in the Fundamental Law is also being tightened, with a section being added which states that

“The production, use, distribution and promotion of drugs is prohibited in Hungary.”

According to Fidesz MPs, this amendment reinforces the state's commitment to the protection of public safety, a healthy lifestyle and public order. According to the explanatory note, the amendment "makes it clear that Hungary is firmly opposed to the legalisation of drugs in order to protect public health, safety and future generations" and creates a clear legal basis for the effective implementation of strict regulation and preventive measures.

5. The suspension of citizenship

One of the most disputed points of the amendment to the Fundamental Law is the future possibility of suspending the citizenship of Hungarian citizens who are also citizens of another state.

It was the government-affiliated Magyar Nemzet that first reported in February that Viktor Orbán had called on government party MPs at the off-site Fidesz-KDNP meeting to expel from Hungary all those who had received support from the United States through USAID. Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis justified the move targeting NGOs and the independent media by saying that organisations receiving foreign funding pose a threat to Hungary's sovereignty.

Even if they do not expel individuals who are not to the government's liking, the Fundamental Law will from now on allow for the suspension of their citizenship. This is a completely new feature in the Hungarian legal framework, but there is no precedent for such a solution in the international context either.

Under the amendment to the Fundamental Law that has just been adopted, another bill which is to be submitted later will make it possible for the state to suspend "the Hungarian citizenship of persons who also hold the citizenship of another state and whose continued Hungarian citizenship poses a threat to public order, public security or national security in Hungary" for up to ten years.

The proposal does not affect individuals whose other citizenship is that of an EU Member State or most other European countries. Under the proposal submitted by János Halász of Fidesz, a person's Hungarian citizenship can only be suspended if he or she also holds the citizenship of at least one non-EEA or non-candidate country and the condition of being a threat to the country's national security is met.

The decision to suspend an individual's Hungarian citizenship will be taken by a minister appointed by a government decree. To this end, it was added to the Fundamental Law that the President of the Republic "shall decide on matters relating to the acquisition and termination of citizenship, with the exception of suspension". In other words, the President will continue to decide who may be granted Hungarian citizenship and whose citizenship is to be revoked, but the freshly introduced suspension will not be part of his or her competence.

International lawyer Boldizsár Nagy, Professor Emeritus of International Law at the CEU in Vienna, considers the provision on the suspension of Hungarian citizenship to be unintelligible, unfeasible and incompatible with fundamental rights.

"It's as absurd as discussing what colour the hair of bald angels is," he recently said.

6. Municipalities can protect themselves from overpopulation

The right of municipalities to self-defence, first mentioned by Viktor Orbán in his February speech has also been included in the Fundamental Law. The bill detailing the specific steps to be taken will be drafted by the ministry of Tibor Navracsics, but information about it has been gradually leaked in recent weeks.

The minister spoke about there being between 300 and 400 settlements in the greater Budapest area, around Lake Velence, Lake Balaton and some towns, which feel they are in trouble because the large numbers of newcomers moving in are affecting the landscape of the village or town and the traditional structure of the settlement. Under the proposed law, municipalities would be allowed to restrict the sale of property to non-local residents or expand the right of first refusal. They could also impose conditions on the purchase of property and on the registration of residence, or could require the payment of local tax obligations. The explanatory note states that this would allow them to "preserve the way of life, traditions, customs and stratification of their local society and to determine their preferred population size".

The Fundamental Law would now establish the principle of municipalities’ right to self-defence. "Everyone who resides on the territory of Hungary lawfully has the right to freedom of movement and the freedom to choose their place of residence", Article XXVII of the current Fundamental Law stipulates. This would now be complemented by a single sentence:

“The exercising of the right to choose one's place of residence shall not infringe upon a local community's fundamental right to its identity.”

7. Limitations to the government's room for manoeuvre in a state of danger

The original proposal stated that in the future the government would be allowed to declare a permanent state of danger. Later, the Fidesz MPs in the legislative committee changed the proposal. Following the change, the government will still be able to declare a state of danger for thirty days, and the Parliament will be able to extend it for up to 180 days by a two-thirds majority. Parliament may grant this authorisation any number of times, as it has regularly done every six months since 2020.

However, the amendment to the Fundamental Law that was voted through limits the government's room for manoeuvre in such situations: In the future, the government will no longer be able to suspend laws by decree or to deviate from the existing legislative provisions without a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Under another amendment adopted a few minutes later though, the government may be authorised by Parliament for a period of six months to depart from the legislative provisions and suspend the application of certain laws, either in general, or pertaining to specific areas.

If the former happens, for example, and the government is only granted authorisation relating to the economy and security of supply, it will not be able to restrict the movement of citizens, but it could even make it mandatory for stores to turn in certain products. If, on the other hand, the authorisation is general, the government may suspend any law or depart from any provision of the law.

There is likely a political purpose to the amendment as well: in the event of a change of government, Péter Magyar's hands would be tied if he does not win a two-thirds majority in parliament. This would make it impossible for him to override the laws passed while there was a state of danger in place over the last 15 years.

8. Prosecutors to work five years longer

The good news for prosecutors is that they do not have to retire at the age of 65. In the previous amendment to the Fundamental Law, it was stipulated that the prosecutor general does not need to be elected exclusively from among prosecutors, and this time the retirement age for prosecutors has been moved up. Previously, prosecutors had to retire at the general retirement age of 65. This would now be extended to 70.

The reasoning behind this is that the retirement age for judges was also increased to 70 with the previous amendment, and the two careers "make an inseparable and equal contribution to the rule of law and the functioning of the judiciary". The amendment only applies to prosecutors, there is no age limit specified for the Attorney General.

9. A change in terminology: Instead of people living with a handicap, it will be people living with a disability

From now on, the Fundamental Law also specifies that "persons living with a disability" is the correct term to be used instead of "handicapped persons". (The exact Hungarian terminology is almost impossible to translate – TN) The authors of the drafting argue that the term "disability" is preferable because it clearly separates the person from the particular situation he or she is experiencing, thus emphasising that the disability is only one aspect of the individual's life, not their defining characteristic.

The professional organisations we spoke with also support the amendment, which, although it may not seem so at first glance, is of great importance. According to experts, the previous wording presented disability as if it were a deficiency, a shortcoming, whereas the amended version refers to a condition and is therefore less degrading.