BUDAPEST, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ordered the termination of a lawsuit brought by Budapest over a disputed "solidarity tax," a step the city’s mayor denounced as a direct assault on judicial independence ahead of an April election.
The Budapest Municipal Court declined to comment on the specific case, but said in an email: "In general, in pending case(s) it is up to the relevant judge to take the step(s), who would assess the cases in line with his/her oath taken as a judge."
Budapest, run by liberal mayor Gergely Karacsony, has been locked in a financial dispute with Orban's government over a "solidarity tax" payable to the state. The dispute contributed to a Moody's downgrade of the city's credit rating.
Orban, in power since 2010, faces a tough reelection bid in parliamentary elections set for April 12.
The European Union has suspended billions of euros worth of funding over Orban's controversial rule-of-law reforms, hitting Hungary's economy.
Invoking special emergency powers, Orban said in a decree on Tuesday the pending lawsuit over the tax for 2023–2025 would be "terminated by the court." He said the tax must be collected.
'DIRECTLY ATTACKED THE RULE OF LAW'
Karacsony said the move was intended to prevent the city from "fighting in the courts against the extremely unjust and unlawful solidarity contribution."
"No longer even caring about pretences, the government has directly attacked the rule of law," he said in a Facebook post.
A government spokesman did not respond to Reuters' queries.
Kristof Andras Kadar, co-chair of legal advocacy group, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, said the decree violated a core legal principle.
"This is the separation of the branches of power, as the executive branch – which is one of the parties to the lawsuit – suddenly says the court must end the case," he said.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
