Changes in selection of constitutional judges

The proposal to amend the Constitution on the election of constitutional judges prepared by Justice Minister Gábor Gál (Most-Híd) was approved by ministers on Wednesday. In the material, Gál declared that he wanted to improve the process of selecting candidates for the post of constitutional judges. He hopes to achieve this by tightening up the qualification prerequisites for appointment. The conditions for holding the post of constitutional judge will be defined only in the Constitution. "This means a minimum age of 45 years, moral integrity, 15 years of legal practice. They must be a recognised figure in the field of law, and their previous life should give a guarantee that they'll decide impartially and honestly," said the minister. The proposal was criticised by experts and the opposition stating, for example, that setting the minimum age to 45 disqualifies all the young generation of judges. Gál rejected criticism from experts, refusing to take on board their objections. He warned that if there was a failure to agree on a change in the rules, nine out of a total of 13 constitutional judges whose term ends in February 2019 would be elected according to the old rules.