SLOVAK MEPs want the chance to speak before the national parliament.
They will deliver a letter to parliament on July 18, requesting that Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška allow them the option of addressing the lawmakers. The letter will be delivered by MEP Monika Flašíková Beňová of the ruling Smer party.
The proposal to be able to give speeches in the national parliament is supported by most of the 13 MEPs, with only Boris Zala and Monika Smolková (both Smer) having reservations, the TASR newswire reported.
Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) chairman and MP Ján Figeľ, however, does not want to hear speeches given regularly by MEPs in parliament. The KDH, which has two MEPs, finds such an arrangement neither good nor efficient in terms of political relations, as MEPs are supposed to work in the European Parliament, Figeľ said, as reported by TASR.
“The main purpose of the MEPs is to be active in European institutions and not the Slovak Parliament,” said Figeľ, noting that MEPs can deliver speeches at the Parliamentary European Affairs Committee, yet they seldom appear there. If they do appear, it is usually as part of their election campaign.
By rejecting the initiative, Figeľ may be worried that his own ineptitude as a former European Commissioner (2004-09) could be laid bare, Flašíková Beňová told TASR.
“As a former negotiator in Slovakia’s accession to the EU and later also a European Commissioner, Figeľ should have done way more towards bringing European institutions closer to Slovakia’s citizens,” she told TASR. “Now he’s scared that MEPs might in their speeches unmask his political, ‘expert’ and moral ineptitude, both back then and unfortunately also now.”
The idea was first tabled by Jozef Viskupič and Branislav Škripek (both OĽaNO). Their proposal was turned down, although Paška made a promise that MEPs will be invited to attend sessions concerning the European agenda, TASR wrote.
Source:
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
