The Hungarian President Pal Schnitt
has signed a new constitution which defines marriage as being exclusively
between a man and a 
woman.
The new document also acknowledges
the right to life of the unborn child from conception and affirms the role of
Christianity in Hungary’s history.
The new Constitution was passed last
week in the Hungarian parliament by Proposed by the 262 votes to 44 against and
one abstention
The margin reflected the two-thirds
majority enjoyed by the governing Fidesz-Christian Democrat Party, which
proposed the document.
The document has been criticised by
a number of groups, including the German government and various European
secular organisations.
On Monday, Germany’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Werner Hoyer said his government was observing the developments in
Hungary “with great attention and not without concern”.
He suggested that Hungary’s
understanding of basic rights was incompatible with that of the European Union.
However the Hungarian foreign
ministry rejected the criticism as “unacceptable”, accusing Germany of
interfering publicly in Hungary’s internal affairs instead of using bilateral
talks to air concerns.
Mr. Hoyer “is basically evaluating
Hungarian internal political developments. The statement is inexplicable and
unacceptable as German foreign policy leaders have been briefed in detail
several times about the process of Hungary drawing up a new constitution,”
Zsolt Nemeth, state secretary at the ministry and a lawmaker from the governing
Fidesz party, said in the release.
Meanwhile, the Council of Europe has
requested the Venice Commission, its constitutional law advisory body, to
prepare a report about the new Hungarian constitution, AFP said, citing
unnamed commission source. The report is expected in June.
However,
according to EU news website EUobserver, the European Commission will not be
reviewing the Constitution.
A
source from the Commission told the website that the constitution was a matter
for Hungarians to decide and that the country remains a constitutional
democracy.