"Responsible State, Conscious Citizen" – Workshop on Social Issues

"Responsible State, Conscious Citizen" – Workshop on Social Issues

Within the frames of a general project called the "Losers of the Crisis" the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights organised a workshop on 29 November 2012. The conference focused on three social issues; the changes in the system of pensions and disability allowances, the wage of employees in medical fields and the costs of enforcement proceedings.

At the beginning Katalin Szajbély (Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights) introduced the project and outlined the pertaining enquiries. The next speaker, Zsuzsanna Farkas (Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights) analysed the current regulations on the disability pension system in a constitutional aspect and gave information on the ombudsman's activity.

Gábor Pósfai (secretary general of the rehabilitation institution) listed the causes that had resulted in the alteration of the disability pension system. He also explained the practical implementation and the administrative background of the regulation. Gábor Juhász (ELTE University) pointed out that there remained several open questions in the last twenty years, such as the role of the state, the principles of solidarity and equality or the employment of retired persons. He reckoned that the continuous alteration of the regulation makes the disability system uncertain.

Adrienn Dezső (Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights) dealt with enforcement proceedings in her presentation; she introduced the reports of the enquiries of 2011. She highlighted that many elements of the reports had been accepted and the pertaining regulations had been amended. However, some other items of the report (like the problem of high procedural fees) were neglected. She reckoned that the regulation should harmonise the interests of the debtor and the demander. In parallel, Katalin Auer (high counsellor of the Banking Association) called for the simplification and the improvement of efficiency of enforcement proceedings.

Zoltán Balogh (president of the chamber of medical workers), being the last plenary presenter, analysed the grave problem of financing medical workers. Although there has just been a rise in the wages, they are still much less than the European average.

After the presentations several experts of practical and theoretical fields made their comments. The experts represented universities, public institutions and civil organisations.

Subsequent to the presentations and the reflections the audience could address questions and make comments to the presenters.