Hungary unveils operational reforms for Constitutional Court

Hungary’s Constitutional Court is on the verge of a major overhaul. 

Following the recent amendment of the Constitution – which extended the Constitutional Court’s autonomy, restored its review powers and reintroduced a mandatory retirement age that will result in the termination of mandates for multiple sitting justices – the Hungarian government published a legislative proposal translating these constitutional changes into detailed operational rules. 

From a transparent election process for the Constitutional Court’s President to changes in the way decisions are published, the proposed reforms signal a shift towards independence and accountability.

Below, we break down what the draft legislation would change – and why it matters.

Adaptions to the new constitutional amendments 

The legislative proposal implements important changes necessitated by the recent 17^th amendment of the Constitution, which introduced significant structural reforms to the Constitutional Court – discussed in detail in this article. 

In addition to other structural reforms, the constitutional amendment extends the Constitutional Court’s institutional autonomy by making the court President elected by the justices for a three-year term with the possibility of re-election – replacing the previous system under which Parliament elected the President.

Importantly, the current draft legislation sets out the detailed rules for the new presidential election procedure. The election of the Constitutional Court’s President would be preceded by a transparent application process open exclusively to sitting constitutional justices under the following procedures:

• The call for applications must be issued within prescribed deadlines and prepared by an ad hoc committee composed of the three most senior justices by age.
• The call must be published on the Constitutional Court’s official website.
• The President is elected by the plenary session of the Constitutional Court with a simple majority vote.
• In the event of an unsuccessful vote, up to three further rounds may be held. If none succeeds, the procedure is declared unsuccessful and a new call for applications must be issued.

Restoring the publication regime

The proposed legislation would restore the role of Hungary’s constitutionally designated official gazette – the Hungarian Gazette (Magyar Közlöny) – as the primary publication venue for Constitutional Court decisions. This would eliminate what the official summary memorandum describes as an “unjustified parallelism”, existing since 1 January 2026, under which Constitutional Court decisions have been published exclusively in a separate gazette (Alkotmánybíróság Határozatai) rather than in the Hungarian Gazette. 

Going forward, relevant Constitutional Court decisions would be published in the Hungarian Gazette only.

Tweaks regarding budgetary autonomy

The proposal would reinstate budgetary provisions that were in force prior to 1 January 2026 to safeguard the Constitutional Court’s financial independence. Both versions are based on the same core principles:

• the Constitutional Court prepares its own budget proposal, which the government must submit to the Hungarian Parliament without modification; and 
• the Constitutional Court’s budget cannot be reduced below the previous year’s allocation. 

These principles would remain unaffected.

The proposed change concerns a more specific aspect of the current framework. Under the rules currently in force, the budget may be adjusted for personnel appropriations where additional funds become available during the financial year (e.g. to accommodate salary increases). The proposal would remove this mechanism.

Outlook

Taken together, the proposed amendments reorganise the Constitutional Court’s operations on several fronts with an aim to facilitate independence. The government’s initiative to reinforce the Constitutional Court’s institutional, operational and financial independence aligns closely with the broader legal reform effort aimed at restoring the conditions for constitutional democracy and the rule of law in the wake of the 17^th amendment of the Constitution.

With a steady stream of new legislation, amendments, proposals, and public consultations already emerging in connection with the constitutional reform, the government’s reform process is progressing at an ambitious pace. 

For more information on these proposed changes and how they could impact your business operations in Hungary, contact your CMS client partner or the CMS experts who contributed to this article.

This article was co-authored by Lilla Vereska.