BRUSSELS - A defiant Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban dismissed criticism on Thursday that changes his government has made to the constitution are anti-democratic, saying there was no evidence of any breach of European Union rules.
The EU, the United States and human rights organisations have accused Orban of using constitutional amendments to limit the powers of Hungary's top court and undermine democracy in the former Soviet satellite.
Speaking before attending an EU summit in Brussels, Orban said Budapest was ready to explain and challenged critics to produce concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
“Who is able to present even one single point of evidence -facts, may I say - which could be the basis for any argument that what we are doing is against democracy?” the conservative prime minister told reporters.
“Saying 'we don't like something' is not concrete enough to react... I am more than happy to answer their questions.”
Orban was likely to face more disapproval at the two-day summit, where the main focus was on economic policy priorities for the 27-member bloc to tame its sovereign debt crisis.
Many of his peers see the changes, which passed through parliament on Monday, as the latest effort by the charismatic nationalist to assert power over other branches of the state.
Since returning to office in 2010, Orban has defied the EU on principles such as media freedom and central bank independence, resisted pressure from the International Monetary Fund to change economic policies, and angered foreign investors.
The latest changes restrict the constitutional court to challenging laws on procedural grounds only, not on their substance, and scrap all decisions made by the court before 2012, discarding a body of case law often used as reference.
Hungary's forint currency fell on foreign exchange markets on Thursday due to growing concerns about the constitutional amendments and an aggressive shake-up by the new governor of the central bank, a close Orban associate.
There is little the EU can do to rein in Orban. Beyond political pressure, the EU executive can start legal proceedings but the process is onerous and unlikely to yield quick results.
In the EU, where political decisions are taken by consensus, pressure could mean isolation, weakening Hungary's voice in policy discussions. But Orban said he was not concerned.
“You are not guests of an isolated nation today,” he told the more than 100 reporters who attended his news conference.
Accusing his EU critics of generalising, he said Hungary would suffer no consequences of any EU displeasure with his government's policies.
“We don't have a feeling that we are victims... I am absolutely optimistic about the Hungarian economy and Hungarian political life. We are not victims. Do I look like a victim?” he said. “We will win, I am sure about it.”
Orban has said his government had the right to use its two-thirds majority in parliament to overhaul a constitution that it calls a hangover from the communist era.
Brussels disagrees. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso telephoned Orban last week to voice his concern, saying the amendments raised “concerns with respect to the principle of the rule of law”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Hungarian President Janos Ader, a close ally of Orban, to use the government's parliamentary majority responsibly and take EU concerns seriously.
“Europe is not just a single market for consumers, but also a continent of values for citizens,” an EU diplomat said. - Reuters