The recent amendments to the Pension Act approved by the parliament are unconstitutional, said representatives of a civic association called Sporiteľ (Saver) on March 25, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Jaroslav Pilát from Sporiteľ says that it was unconstitutional to pass the amendments in a fast-track legislative process, which is only be used when human rights or the state are endangered or if there is a threat of severe economic damages. None of these conditions were present says Pilát, TASR wrote.
“Those amendments were in fact done in such a way as to harm the second pillar [of the pension system], or to make its functioning more difficult,” said Pilát. The association said that a similar case in the Czech Republic ended with a court ruling that amendments passed in fast-track proceedings without justification are unconstitutional.
Pilát said that the Slovak Constitutional Court should review this issue and decide whether such measures are legally sound or not. He also called on all MPs and political parties who think it is important to act in accordance with the Slovak Constitution to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court.
Sporiteľ representatives also began collecting signatures for a petition on March 26 that asks that the 9 percent payment to the second pillar be maintained because the government has repeatedly said that it plans to decrease the percentage. The goal is to collect at least 100,000 signatures which would require the petition to be discussed in Parliament. 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.
