PM Orbán has no plans to introduce death penalty

PM Orbán’s clarification that he is not seriously considering the reintroduction of death penalty, provokes a conservative columnist to wonder what purpose the whole dispute over the issue served.

PM Orbán has told EU politicians that he has no intention of reintroducing the death penalty. The Prime Minister, in an interview on Echo TV, also noted that it would be undemocratic from the EU to stifle public debate on the issue, since capital punishment is supported by many voters, nonetheless, and in the long-run the current legislation in the EU may change.

In Magyar Nemzet, Szabolcs Szerető wonders whether it was reasonable of the PM to raise the issue in the first place. After all, Hungary’s current EU commitments rule out the possibility of the reintroduction of capital punishment, and as the PM announced, he was not even considering this option, Szerető notes. The conservative columnist fears that PM Orbán’s suggestion that the death penalty should be kept on the agenda sends the message to voters that the government’s previous legal reforms to reduce crime have not been effective. Although Szerető doubts that Jobbik would quit the EU in order to introduce the death penalty, he thinks that the whole dispute may in the end strengthen the radical right-wing party which has for long been advocating capital punishment.

Tags: death penalty, EU, Orbán