President does not rule out vetoing abolition of Special Prosecutor's Office

On Friday, President Zuzana Čaputová announced that she would not rule out using her veto power or the option of turning to the Constitutional Court in the event that the Fico government moves to abolish the Special Prosecutor's Office.

The planned abolition was announced on Wednesday, December 6, and approved by the government. If it goes ahead, the office would cease to exist in mid January 2024. The government plans to implement all the necessary legal amendments before Christmas, by using a fast-tracked legislative procedure in parliament. The plan was criticised not just by the president, but also by opposition parties, the European Commission, and experts.

The office oversees the prosecution of serious crimes, including high-level corruption. As soon as it began to prosecute people with links to previous Smer-led governments, Smer – which returned to government in October after a three-and-a-half year hiatus – began to portray the institution as biassed, and senior party members launched a campaign of vilification against elite investigators and prosecutors.

According to Čaputová, the abolition of the Special Prosecutor's Office will significantly weaken the rule of law in Slovakia. The government's arguments for using the fast-tracked procedure, which sharply curtails any opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny, and its avoidance of any meaningful consultation with legal experts are, in the opinion of the president, who is herself a lawyer, deliberate.

On Friday, Special Prosecutor Daniel Lipšic once again offered to step down from his position at the head of the office if that would mean the government backtracked from its decision to abolish it. He first did so even before the government announced its decision. In a post on social media, he also thanked people for their support.

On Thursday evening, several thousand people gathered in the Námestie Slobody (Freedom Square) in central Bratislava to protest against the abolition of the Special Prosecutor's Office and the government's actions.