Proposal submitted to parlt says Land Act should be cardinal law

Budapest, December 7 (MTI) - An amendment proposal to the constitution submitted to parliament on Friday seeks to make the new Land Act into cardinal laws requiring a two-thirds majority to change.

This is the third amendment submitted to Hungary s new Basic Law, in effect since the start of the year.

Sandor Fazekas, the farm minister who sponsored the proposal, said it would allow the cardinal law to lay down the rules of the ownership and use of farmland and forests. He said the constitution already stated that land, forest and water were parts of the nation s common heritage and this is why a qualified majority should be required to legislate criteria for their ownership.

Under the government s land bill, only Hungarian farmers could own or lease land and investors would be excluded. Private individuals should be able to own up to 300 hecatres of land, family farms up to 500 hectares and businesses up to 1,200 hectares, according to the bill.