20 Legislative proposals maintained by the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and his Deputies The CFR Act entitles the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights that if the authority subject to inquiry or its supervisory organ fails to form a position on the merits and to take the appropriate measure, or the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights does not agree with the position or the measure taken, he/she can submit the case to Parliament within the framework of his/her annual report. Exercising this right, of those legislative proposals formulated by him over the previous years that were not admitted by the ministry concerned, the Ombudsman hereby submits the following ones to Parliament in this annual report. In 2016, the Ombudsman asked the Minister of Human Capacities to determine the size of the minimum hospital space per person in a legal regulation (similarly to the case of care, educational and penitentiary institutions). The Minister did not agree with the prescription of adequate hospital space per person. In recent years, several reports issued by the Ombudsman called attention to the fact that although during enforcement proceedings, the amounts received as certain social benefits determined by the law are exempt from the attachment orders, in practice, these may also be collected for the purpose of debt recovery. Granting exemption from attachment orders expresses the legislator’s intention that the enforcement proceedings must be conducted in respect of the enforcement of social security and the maintenance of the social security of the debtor. While social benefits paid by post are effectively exempt from the enforcement proceedings, social benefits arriving on a bank account may be subject to enforcement. In 2012 and 2016, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights initiated the review of the legal regulation in order to guarantee the right to social security. Although the Minister of Finance agreed with the above in principle, no legislation has since been drafted to this effect. The Ombudsman for Future Generations proposed in 2016 in a theoretical opinion that the legislator impose a restriction on the sale of poor-quality, high pollutant lignite with low calorific value to the population with a view to curbing the adverse health effects of air pollution due to domestic heating. This position, consistently advocated by the Ombudsman, supports the use of fuel wood with a calorific value higher than poor-quality lignite in order to reduce energy poverty. The Minister for Environmental Protection agreed with the proposal, but he informed that the draft legislation presented by him required further administrative consultations. Despite the supportive intention and efforts of the legislator, the act necessary for the protection of the air has not been promulgated ever since. In 2018, the Commissioner established in connection with the outstanding student debts in higher education that full or partial exemption from the obligation to repay the outstanding amount of the debt, related to childbearing, only extends to the mother and not to the other parent raising the child together with the mother. In his report, the Commissioner pointed out that in the case of parents who raise their children together, the total budget of the family is made up of the income and possible debts of the parents, so mothers who have student debts are in a situation comparable to that of fathers who have student debts. The requirement of equal treatment could be satisfied by the following: if the mother does not have a student debt any more, or she did not have one previously, either, but the father, who raises the child together with the mother, has one, secondarily, the preferential treatment should also be available with regard to the father’s debt. The Commissioner also indicated that the prevailing regulations raised concerns with regard to the requirement of equal treatment concerning single fathers and single adoptive fathers. The Ombudsman asked the Minister of Human Capacities to amend the legal regulation, but the latter did not agree with the fundamental rights-related arguments formulated in the report. The Commissioner continues to maintain the above recommendations formulated over the previous years, and asks Parliament to facilitate law-making necessary for their implementation. The right of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights to initiate the review of legal norms Pursuant to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, the Constitutional Court reviews the harmony of the laws with the Fundamental Law at the initiative of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights. The CFR Act also allows the Commissioner to initiate the interpretation of the Fundamental Law of Hungary. In 2019, special mention should be made of the motion submitted by the Commissioner in connection with the comprehensive amendment of the Forest Act, which was drafted on the basis of the motion submitted by several national nature conservation organisations, and at the initiative and with the professional assistance of the Deputy Commissioner, Ombudsman for Future Generations. The motion referring to the violation of the non-regression principle and of the requirement of legal certainty pointed out the lack of several guarantees due to which the level of protection by law of the common heritage of the nation identified in the Fundamental Law of Hungary as well as of the right to a healthy environment decreased. The theoretical starting point of the motion is that all those changes in legislation that end protection, or do not provide for the same efficiency in comparison with the efficiency of the earlier protection, and replace the legal instruments of the enforcement of the precautionary principle and the principle of prevention with ex post sanctioning, or relegate the interests of nature protection behind economic interests, are in breach of the non-regression principle. The main finding of the Ombudsman’s motion is that the amendment of the Forest Act reduces – in both quantitative and qualitative terms – the restrictions aimed at nature protection, applicable to protected forests situated in NATURA 2000 areas. The challenged legal provisions – against the interests of forest managers, among others – relegate nature conservation aims to the background: while giving apparent priority to nature conservation, REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF HUNGARY AND HIS DEPUTIES – 2019