Lucia Plaváková (source: Sme - Jozef Jakubčo)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. While people worry about the cost of living, coalition MPs decide to spend hours debating stickers on a laptop. The health minister submits (but does not publish) a plan that is supposed to help get her out of hot water. Blanár met the Russians, again.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
Big changes, little debate
Once the higher taxes and other measures proposed within the €2.7-billion consolidation package kick in as of January, people in Slovakia can expect a negative change in their standard of living. In the one year that has passed since the election that brought Robert Fico back to power, the impending fiscal contraction is among his most consequential legislative changes, along with the much-criticised overhaul of the Criminal Code and the changes to the public-service broadcaster.
However, the government’s financial package, which includes a 3-percentage-point hike in VAT to 23 percent and a new tax on financial transactions, among other things, is set to be approved by MPs with minimal opportunity for debate. The coalition is accelerating the legislative process in order to be able to count on the new tax rates when proposing the state budget, the first draft of which needs to be unveiled by October 15.
Thus, on Thursday the ruling coalition’s MPs approved a proposal to use a fast-tracked procedure to pass the measures, and curbed the debate at its first reading to just 12 hours. Parliament is set to vote on the overhaul of the VAT system (which will result in four different VAT rates) as early as this week.
“How dare you? I earn a €5,000 salary, I am paid to debate things here,” was how Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Alojz Hlina summarised the opposition’s discontent over the rushed parliamentary debate.
