"The court said the churches law – part of a new constitution introduced by the government of Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party in January 2012 – could lead to politically motivated decisions on recognition. Pastor Ivanyi’s group lost its church status, hitting its funding and charitable work including tending daily to 1,000 homeless people.
The joy may not last. Amendments being debated by Hungary’s parliament and voted on next week are set to restore both the bulk of the church law and many controversial parts of the new constitution that the constitutional court or European institutions had successfully challenged.
The turnround has taken not just Pastor Ivanyi but the international community by surprise.
The 2012 constitution, and associated 'cardinal' laws on different areas also passed by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, was denounced by critics as a 'constitutional coup'. They said it weakened democratic checks and balances and endangered media freedom and independence of the judiciary. (...)
Mr Orban’s government always insisted Hungary needed a constitutional “reboot” after too long relying on a rewritten Stalin-era constitution. It rebuffed criticisms of the new fundamental law as groundless and orchestrated by its arch-foes, the socialists. The government this week said criticism was again misplaced and the amendments were anyway being introduced in a Fidesz MP’s private member’s bill, not a government bill."