The Hungarian government announced on October 31 that it will scrap plans to set up a separate system of public administration courts, which has been in the crossfire of international organisations. 

The Hungarian forint strengthened on the news. Following considerable professional consultations, the government has now decided to scrap the plan altogether and keep the current unified system in place in order to protect the courts from unnecessary disputes, Justice Minister Judit Varga told state news agency MTI on Thursday. Legislation currently under preparation will make public administration court procedures faster and more predictable, the justice minister said.

The draft will be submitted to parliament during the autumn session. The government’s original plans were in line with all European and international norms and even the Venice Commission found them acceptable at a review this spring, so the international dispute concerning the plans did not influence the decision, she said.

The introduction of the administrative courts has been under scrutiny by the EU and international organisations. The controversial bill would have put excessive powers in the hands of the justice minister with the right to appoint half of the judges, which raised further concerns about the independence of the judiciary in Hungary.

The government abandoned its plans to launch the new courts effective from 2020 a few days after the European Parliament elections.

Analysts said this was due to help pave the way for Laszlo Trocsanyi’s candidacy as commissioner for EU enlargement. 

The rollback of contested administrative courts system was also seen as the first conciliatory step by Fidesz to have its membership restored in the European People Party, which suspended the ruling right-wing party’s membership in the spring. 

Trocsanyi’s designation was rejected by the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament in September citing conflict of interest.

The forint strengthened after the announcement trading at 328.2 versus the euro on Thursday night, down from 329.7 earlier in the day.