Although the current Constitution still bears the stamp of the former 1949 Soviet-era document, the direct outcome of the 1989 roundtable discussions and the political compromise made in 1990 between the MDF and SzDSz parliamentary parties allowed for significant reform of the basic law. This resulted in a modern European constitution reflecting the country’s liberal democratic goals.
In 1995 a parliamentary committee consisting of all parties was established to discuss further changes to the constitution. After a concept constitution was drafted in 1996, continuation of the work was stalled due to major political disagreements between the parties.
Without the
Furthermore, its 2003 judgment about temporary parliamentary committees suggests that predictions of the end of an active Court era appear to be wrong. Under the leadership of new Court president, András Holló, who is believed to be sympathetic to the Left, the Court seems to have returned to a more proactive role, as feared by politicians, when recently elected judges were questioned by parliamentarians at the committee hearings about their intention to be “activists.” Holló succeeded János Németh, a legal positivist, in 2003; Nemeth served until reaching the post's age limit of 70 years.