If the coalition KDH party requests the Constitutional Court examine the Press Code, it would prefer to do it in coordination with SDKÚ rather than with the ethnic-Hungarian SMK, KDH vice-chairman Martin Fronc said on May 29 in response to the SMK initiative announced earlier in the day.
"KDH's support for SMK can hardly be expected," he said, alluding to the breakdown in opposition parties' relations following the SMK's controversial decision to support the approval of the Lisbon Treaty in parliament in exchange for some preferential touch-ups to the proposed Education Act. The other two opposition parties wanted to block the treaty in order to get wholesale changes to the Press Code.
However, the SMK has now presented an analysis of some contradictions between the Press Code and the Constitution. But to submit the complaint to the Constitutional Court, the signatures of other opposition parties MPs are needed.
"It's Pál Csáky's hypocrisy to put himself in the front line in the fight for freedom of speech," SDKÚ MP Tomáš Galbavý told the TASR newswire. If Csáky's party could keep a promise, the Press Code would look differently, he added.
Along with the analysis, SMK has proposed an amendment to the Press Code that is due to be discussed in parliament in September. The amendment is expected to cover the same ground as already expressed by the opposition.
Culture Ministry spokesman Jozef Bednár said there is no reason to amend the Press Code, which hasn't even entered into force yet, and that that is constitutional.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
