People who incite hatred can expect the Hungarian legal system to not leave their actions unpunished, Minister in Charge of the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár declared following a session of the Jewish Community Roundtable on Wednesday.
According to the Minister, Hungarian laws are suitable for preventing and punishing crimes of an anti-Semitic nature. The police and the prosecution services still have work to do with relation to applying the law however, he noted.
Other administration representatives at the meeting, which Minister Lázár described as a constructive and good-natured discussion, included Minister of Justice László Trócsányi and top officials from the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, the Curia (Supreme Court), the National Judicial Office, the Ministry of Interior and the National Police Headquarters. According to information provided by the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, the justice system officials present received both negative criticism and positive initiatives.
On the subject of crimes of an anti-Semitic nature, the Minister said that the number of such crimes is stagnating, but the important thing isn’t the numbers, but the fact that these crimes are capable of endangering the tranquillity of a community.
The subject of the ‘House of Fates’ was not touched upon and the intention of the Government remains to achieve a consensus, because the museum cannot be established without the Hungarian Jewish community, the Minister said.
Deputy State Secretary for Priority Social Affairs Csaba Latorcai from the Prime Minister’s Office told the press that the participants had asked the Minister of Justice to expand the interest protection system.
Also discussed was the fact that Hungary will act as President of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) from March 2015 until March 2016, which the administration would like to perform with the involvement of the meeting’s participants.
The Deputy State Secretary explained that the Government plans to handle the issue of cemeteries as a key duty and views the task not only from a heritage protection perspective but, for instance, would also like to involve school community service to enable children to gain first-hand knowledge of local history in a targeted manner. The funding for the programme is expected to be several million euros, he added.
Mr. Latorcai also reported on the fact that the Government had come to a decision on increasing the pension-like benefits of politically persecuted persons, with a 9.9 percent retroactive increase from 1 November this year and a 2.4 percent increase beginning on 1 January 2015. According to the Government’s decision, such benefits must be higher than the average pension.
András Heisler, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz), told the press that they had received a promise with regard to the investigation of various stalled anti-Semitism proceedings. With relation to the ‘House of Fates’, Mr. Heisler said he trusts that the parties will soon come to an agreement and it is evident that both the Government and the Jewish community would like to achieve a consensus on the issue.
With regard to the Federation’s budget, Mr. Heisler said that they had received confirmation of the fact that there will be funding available for the renovation of synagogues, with the renovation of three synagogues expected next year.
(Prime Minister's Office)