The last agenda items in the ongoing parliamentary session are to be discussed in the chamber on November 5, the SITA newswire reported. The last document that is expected to be voted upon is the cabinet draft bill on strategic companies that was moved to its second reading on November 4, after parliament agreed to handle it in fast-track procedure. After that vote, parliament will hold its regular Thursday question time.
Based on the cabinet-approved bill, several companies in Slovakia could be designated as strategic companies and the state could temporarily become the owner of any of these private companies slipping into serious economic difficulty. The state would own such companies until a new, suitable owner was found to secure its continued operation.
Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek defended the bill against much criticism by the opposition parties and explained it was not the state's role to nationalise companies but to buy them for a market price in order to preserve jobs in companies threatened by the current crisis. The opposition argued that the draft introduces practices similar to nationalisation of private assets. The ruling coalition had enough votes to push the bill to the second reading. The vote on the final bill is expected on Thursday afternoon. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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