THE CHAIR of the mandate and immunity committee of Slovakia’s parliament, Renáta Zmajkovičová (Smer), has withdrawn her proposal to modify the immunity from criminal prosecution that MPs currently enjoy.
The proposed legislation would have removed the need for parliament’s approval before a criminal prosecution can be initiated against an MP. It would have limited the current, broadly-applied immunity that Slovak MPs enjoy and restricted immunity from criminal prosecution only to acts occurring when MPs are conducting parliamentary activities – including trips to and from sessions of parliament, the TASR newswire reported.
The proposal did not have clear support from parties of either the governing coalition or the opposition, Zmajkovičová told TASR. She said that amendments involving Slovakia’s constitution are difficult to successfully pursue towards the end of a parliamentary term, noting that a proposal on conflicts of interest put forth by MP Gábor Gál from Most-Híd party met the same fate. A general election is planned in Slovakia no later than June 2010.
