Effectively all theoretical obstacles have been removed from the approval of the Government’s counter-terrorism action plan, Károly Kontrát, Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior said after the five-party consultation held on Tuesday with respect to the counter-terrorism package.
Mr Kontrát said: there is one more expert-level consultation left to be held on Wednesday, following which the Government will submit its bill to Parliament next week. Parliament may start debating the bill on the week beginning on 25 April.
Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács told the press: another important step has been taken towards the passage of the proposed package of measures. He added: there is theoretical agreement on the importance of the package. There was no need to prove to anyone that all means and tools must be placed at the disposal of the Government and the competent agencies which may help to prevent potential terrorist attacks.
By Mr Kontrát’s account, they have accepted the opposition’s proposals and concerns regarding the amendment of the Penal Code, encrypted communication, the freedom of assembly and the procurement of defence and protective equipment.
The Minister of State said upon elaborating on the details: based on the proposal of the opposition parties, two factual scenarios will be amended in the Penal Code. On the one hand, the organisation of terrorist groups will qualify as a punishable act, and as part of this, if a person leaves or travels through Hungary for the purpose of joining a terrorist group, this will likewise qualify as an act subject to punishment. On the other hand, the spreading of pro-terrorism propaganda before the wider public will also be punishable. He said: in the context of the amendment of the Penal Code, the Government will propose the reduction of the age limit from 14 years to 12 years in the case of certain crimes as international experiences show that terrorists often use young people under the age of 14 years for the commission of serious crimes.
Mr Kontrát described the sanctions regarding the possible verification of encrypted communication as an important issue, as part of which the Government accepted the opposition’s proposal to the effect that only breaches on the part of service providers should be punishable, and users should be spared. According to the Minister of State, there was a debate on how this statutory provision can be implemented, but the Government continues to take the view, as it did in the past, that the investigating authorities can be given the statutory option to conduct checks. In answer to a question, Mr Kovács stressed: it is necessary to limit the options for anyone to conceal bad, negative intentions from the authorities, and a consensus was reached at the five-party consultation regarding the fact that this „could be best captured” from the side of service-providers, rather than from that of users.
According to Mr Kontrát, in acceptance of the opposition’s concerns, the Government will remove the provisions related to the restriction of the freedom of assembly from the package of proposals, and as a result, in the event of any danger, the authorities will inform the organisers of the event who will thereafter owe ultimate responsibility in connection with the holding of the event.
He said: the amendment of the rules related to defence procurements was a proposal of the opposition, and this will also be removed from the legislative package. Mr Kontrát told the press that there was another disagreement regarding the responsibilities of the Counter-Terrorism Information and Criminal Analysis Centre, and these talks will be continued on Wednesday at an expert level.
This was the second five-party consultation regarding the Government’s counter-terrorism action plan which was announced by Interior Minister Sándor Pintér at the end of March. Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács last said on 1 April: there was no fundamental professional difference, and a possible agreement is beginning to unfold.