The vote in the Slovak parliament on three changes in the law to address the issue of dual citizenship has been postponed to February 10 as all coalition MPs could not reach an earlier agreement on the final version of its proposal, the TASR newswire reported.
Freedom and Solidarity MP Igor Matovič (from the Ordinary People faction) wants to modify the coalition proposal with his own amending proposal – a move supported by opposition MPs, other MPs in the Ordinary People faction, and Constitutional Committee Chairman Radoslav Procházka from the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).
Matovič was permitted to submit his proposal thanks to the signatures of opposition Smer MPs. Matovič insists that if his proposal – which places conditions on the ability to hold dual citizenship – is not passed, he will not vote in favour of the coalition amendment. This would mean an insufficient number of votes for the governing coalition; on the other hand, if Matovič's proposal is passed the coalition leaders said that they will withdraw their amendment. Because of these conflicts, coalition MPs opted to postpone the vote – a move which raised a chorus of disapproval within the ranks of Smer.
According to the coalition amendment to the State Citizenship Act, people who request citizenship of another state will not lose their Slovak citizenship as it currently is required under legislation passed by Robert Fico's government in reaction to Hungary’s dual citizenship law.
Ordinary People's amending proposal would introduce some additional conditions.
"We've come up with a proposal that would improve [Smer chairman Robert] Fico's hillbilly law and in this way allow people to gain citizenship who have permanent residence in the given country, who study there, work, do business or have strong family bonds," Matovič said on January 24, as quoted by the TASR newswire. This means that people lacking one of these links to Hungary would lose their Slovak citizenship by acquiring a foreign one.
Source: 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.
