Announcement from Sándor Palace

Sándor Palace issues the following statement in connection with Government Decree 15/2026. (II. 3.) on municipal solidarity contributions due to the spread of misinformation regarding the constitutional role of the President of Hungary:
A statement widely circulated in the press claimed to offer a professional recommendation, arguing that “in the matter of the government decree, the President of Hungary, as guardian of the constitutional order, should have acted and referred the issue to the Constitutional Court”.

The statement, made in full public view with the appearance of professional authority, is in fact based on a serious factual error.
Under current constitutional rules, the President of Hungary cannot review the conformity of government decrees with the Fundamental Law, nor may the President initiate their constitutional review by the Constitutional Court. In contrast, there are numerous effective avenues for initiating constitutional proceedings regarding government decrees, including the specific decree in question. This right is granted to judges handling individual cases, to affected parties through constitutional complaints, and to public officials authorized to initiate proceedings under ex post norm control. It is therefore an obvious professional impossibility to expect the President of Hungary to exercise a power that he clearly does not possess.
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Furthermore, in view of the widespread dissemination of further misinformation concerning the constitutional role of the President of Hungary, it is necessary to clarify the following.

The President of Hungary has the duty to safeguard the democratic functioning of the state. However, this does not give the President the authority to intervene in ongoing individual court cases. It is well known that administrative proceedings are pending in this matter, in which the initiation of a constitutional review procedure concerning the application of the relevant government decree has also been raised. An essential part of the separation of powers and the democratic functioning of the state is that the President of Hungary cannot interfere in proceedings related to a government decree, whether before the courts handling those cases or the Constitutional Court, even by issuing a public statement of principle. Any such interference would violate the principle of separation of public powers and undermine the independence of the judiciary.

Contrary to any opposing claims, the democratic functioning of the constitutional system is clearly ensured in the situation at hand. Legal safeguards regarding government-decree legislation are fully available, and the competent state and professional representative bodies — including the Supreme Court, the National Office for the Judiciary, the Hungarian Bar Association, and others — as well as civil society organizations, were free to express their views, which the media reported without restriction.

The systemic, democratic operation of the state is thus fully guaranteed by the legal order even in the situation generated by the government decree in question, and therefore no intervention by the President of Hungary is required.

In these circumstances, regarding the assessment of the role of the President of Hungary based on a serious professional error, the President reminds organizations and media outlets that take on a political role by creating or disseminating false information of their heightened responsibility in this matter.