Dušan Jarjabek, an MP for the governing Smer-SD party, said during a discussion in the Slovak Parliament on Tuesday, April 8, that the reason why the new Press Code was being obstructed was a clause ordering publishers to make their ownership structures public once a year. In Jarjabek's opinion, this will make ownership relations more transparent, the TASR newswire wrote. Current legislation doesn't require anything similar.
According to Jarjabek, it is natural that the people should know who publishes and finances daily newspapers and magazines in Slovakia. The proposed act protects journalists from unauthorised intervention by their superiors.
Also on Tuesday, April 8, the Speaker of Parliament, Pavol Paška, withdrew his proposal to amend the Slovak Constitution to end MPs’ parliamentary immunity. It was withdrawn once it became clear that the proposal didn't have support across the political spectrum. Several procedural obstructions preceded the withdrawal: MPs failed to form a quorum in parliament on April 4, as well as on April 8, at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., after deputies from the ĽS-HZDS, SNS, SDKÚ-DS, and SMK parties declined to register.
An amendment to the law governing the city of Košice passed its first reading on Tuesday. The amendment would allow individual areas of Košice to draw Eurofunds independently, and would also stipulate that the city can have no more than two vice-mayors. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
