INDEPENDENT MP Daniel Lipšic (NOVA) is preparing to file a motion with the Slovak Constitutional Court to contest the elimination of opposition bills and proposals from the agenda of the parliamentary session. He told the TASR newswire that the ruling Smer party violated the constitutional right of the opposition MPs by scrapping these bills and proposals.
He plans to file the motion in October, and it should have two parts: the scrapping of opposition proposals, and the right to a special parliamentary session. To summon a special session, at least 30 MP signatures are needed, and at the beginning, the agenda is usually approved. If the majority does not approve the agenda, the session does not take place. It is not necessary to approve the agenda unless a cabinet member is to be recalled, TASR wrote on September 18.
Lipšic maintains that if 30 signatures are collected and the special session has been summoned, it should always take place, regardless of the approving vote concerning the agenda. He wants the Constitutional Court to review this point. He opines that if the session is stopped because the agenda is not approved, the MPs’ constitutional rights are again being violated.
At its first session after the summer break, the ruling Smer party on September 9 scrapped from the parliamentary agenda 10 opposition draft bills, as it deemed them part of the campaign before the November municipal elections. Laššáková insisted that the 10 opposition proposals be postponed until after the November 15 municipal election, the Sme daily wrote. Opposition MPs slammed her step, pointing to the violation of MPs’ constitutional right to propose bills.
MPs of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO), Most-Híd, Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) and NOVA on September 10 agreed that they will not participate in any vote until the end of this parliamentary session, saying they would turn to the Constitutional Court. On September 18, they again plan to convince Smer MPs to vote to have the scrapped opposition proposals included on this session’s agenda. If they fail to do so, the KDH will initiate a special parliamentary session, TASR wrote.
(Source: TASR, Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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