Accordo 07 dicembre 1998

Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Hungary and the Lutheran Church of Hungary, 7 dicembre 1998.

Preamble

The Government of the Republic of Hungary (hereinafter referred as Government) and the Lutheran Church of Hungary (herein referred to as Church; together referred to as Parties), inspired by the desire to find a long term solution for the funding of the public purpose and religious activities of the Church, as well as for a few financial issues, taking into consideration Act IV/1990 on the Freedom of Conscience and Religion and the Churches, Act XXXII/1991 on the Settlement of Ownership of Former Real Properties of the Churches as well as Act CXXIV/1997 on the Financial Conditions of the Religious and Public Purpose Activity of Churches, have reached an Agreement.
By concluding this Agreement, the Government recognizes and respects the historical traditions of the Lutheran Church to promote the moral and intellectual rise of the nation, to create communities. The Government wishes to support the teaching educational, social and cultural activities of the Church initiated in the recent years besides its religious involvement.
The Church, respecting the principle of the separation of State and Church, regards as its duty to advocate the public good for all the citizens of our nation, to promote the cooperation between Hungary and other states as well as the preservation of the culture of the Hungarians living beyond the borders.

Art. 1

For the funding of the public purpose activities of the Churches defined in Act IV/1990, the general provisions concerning state and local government institutions shall apply, based on the regulations of the aforementioned Act as well as the provisions of present Agreement (hereinafter: Agreement).

Art. 2

1. The institutions providing public education, as well as social, child welfare and protection institutions of the Church shall be entitled to the same budgetary subsidy as public and municipal institutions carrying out similar activities may usually spend. The subsidy shall consist of a normative and a supplementary support.
2. In establishing the supplementary subsidy for the given year, section 6 of Act CXXIV/1997 on the Financial Conditions of the Religious and Public Purpose Activity of Churches shall be taken into consideration. The central organ of the Church shall be entitled to distribute the amount of the supplementary subsidy.
3. From the central budget, the Government shall grant subsidy for the investment and refurbishment expenses of public education, higher education and social health care institutions maintained by the Church.
4. The Government shall secure central budgetary support for the higher education institutions of the Church in accordance with the effective legislation.
5. The Government grants support from the central budget on the same grounds and to the same extent to state funded students of the higher education institutions of the Lutheran Church as to state funded students of public higher education institutions.
6. The number of state funded students which is agreed upon annually cannot be less than the number of state funded students was in the 1998/99 school year.
7. The Government undertakes to finance Church maintained higher education student hostels to the same extent as public higher education student hostels.

Art. 3

1. The Government shall guarantee state financing of religious education, taking into consideration the average wage per hour for teachers.
2. The Government shall finance Church religious education in both schools and in ecclesiastical communities.

Art. 4

1. The cultural heritage of the Church, within that the values and documents kept in the archives, libraries, museums and other collections, constitute a significant segment of the whole of Hungarian cultural heritage. The Church and the Government undertakes to cooperate in the preservation, enrichment of and securing the public access to this heritage.
2. The Government shall partake in the renovation and preservation of monuments of Church cultural heritage and works of art being under the ownership of Church organs and institutions, in the same proportions as in the case of cultural heritage of public ownership. The Government shall also support financially the operation of archives, libraries, and museums owned by the organs and institutions of the Church.
3. The Church may apply for an extraordinary earmarked subsidy for the investment development of the collections under the ownership of its institutions.

Art. 5

The Government shall execute the settlement of ownership of former real properties of Churches not serving as basis of allowance and not listed in the appendix of the present Agreement in accordance with the regulations of Act XXXII/1991 on the Settlement of Ownership of Former Real Properties of the Churches (hereinafter Etv.), between 1999 and 2011, according to an annual even and value proportionate time schedule.

Art. 6

1. The Government shall regard the value of the real estates appearing in the appendix as the base of the rate of annuity.
For 1998, the starting amount of the annuity based on a mutually accepted value of the real properties listed in the appendix is 4.5% of HUF 4.2702 billion, in harmony with section 3 of Act CXXIV/1997 (in 1998: HUF 192.159 million), from 2001 the rate shall be 5%, which amount taking into consideration valorisation has been established in the amount of HUF 700 million by the Government, as of January 1, 1999, together with the supplement of annuity. After 1999, the Government shall guarantee the real value of the annuity in a way, that, as of January 1, 2000, the amount of the herein defined annuity shall be increased annually, in a rate corresponding to the pace of average deval¬uation of the Forint calculated on the annual planning of the central budget and shall be modified in a rate corresponding to the actual devaluation, following the adoption of the Act on the Execution of the Central Budget. The Church shall spend the annuity for the year 1998 to pay the annuity to the earlier owners of the real estate, and as of 1999, the supplementary annuity shall be spent on public purpose and church activities. Payment of annuity for the year 1998 shall be due within 30 days of the signing of this Agreement, and as of 1999, payment shall be due quarterly.
2. Payment of the annuity shall be due until the termination of the Lutheran Church without a legal successor.
3. The Reformed Church shall regard the compensation for its real property claims based on the Etv. listed in the Appendix of the Agreement to be settled in accordance with subsection (5), § 2 of the Act fulfilled upon execution of the present Agreement.

Art 7

The Government has created the legal possibility for private individuals to dispose of 1% of their progressive personal income tax as of January 1, 1998, to the benefit of a Church of their choice or a separate public fund. Until 2002, the Government shall guarantee 0.5% of the progressive personal income tax of the previous year in a way, that if the amount disposed of by the individuals does not reach this amount, the Government shall complete it, and the amount of supplement shall be distributed among the different churches in the proportion of the citizens’ disposal. However, until 2002 the amount guaranteed for the Church, might not be less than HUF 293 million. The Government may further allocate extraordinary subsidy for certain purposes specified by the Church. The church shall submit its claim for subsidy at the competent organ of the Government until August 31 of each year. Without the consent of the Church, Government shall not initiate the narrowing of the scope of benefits favouring the Church, church personalities and church duties, secured in the personal income tax, in corporate taxation and in the value added tax, by the effective legislation.

Art. 8

The Parties hereby state that the amendment or repeal of the Agreement shall only be possible by a written common agreement of the Parties.

Art. 9

The Parties state that the provisions of Article 6, item (2) of present Agreement, concerning the completion of annuity defined above the value of the real properties serving the basis of annuity, shall come into force upon the due amendment of the relevant regulations of Act CXXIV of 1997. The Government undertakes to initiate these amendments at the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary. Other parts of the Agreement shall come into force and may be implemented following the signing of the Agreement.