SCRAPPING the draft laws submitted by the opposition from September parliamentary session marred the performance of MPs’ mandates, president of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) Grigorij Mesežnikov told the press on October 14 when presenting the results of the IVO Barometer for the third quarter of the year. This was one of the factors that worsened the evaluation of democratic institutions and the state of law within the barometer which assesses the quality of democracy in Slovakia in selected areas, the SITA newswire reported.
According to Mesežnikov, steps such as scrapping proposed bills are disturbing, unprecedented and bad for Slovak parliamentarianism. Such a violation did not occur even during Mečiarism, the era that was given the name after three-time Slovak prime minister Vladimír Mečiar. The political analyst further warned that nobody doubts the right of the majority to discuss and dismiss opposition proposals, but in this case they just scrapped them, as reported by SITA.
Regarding the judiciary, Mesežnikov called the election and appointment of new Supreme Court President Daniela Švecová and new Judicial Council Chair Jana Bajánková “a promising move”, but reminded that this is still the first step. It will be important how things will continue developing, he added.
He also reminded that the European Court of Human Rights rejected all three candidates for the post of the judge at the court for the second time. This is a case that can serve as an indication of the current state of the judiciary and tendencies that prevail there, Mesežnikov said, as reported by SITA.
Regarding the Constitutional Court, the analyst said that, “it has become part of some kind of informally created political-institutional alliance”. In some cases the judges made decisions based on “political regards”, he stressed. The Constitutional Court has still not decided over, for example, the State Citizenship Act, according to SITA.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
