Matúš Šutaj Eštok. (source: TASR)
Good evening. Here is theTuesday, February 20edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
Minister wants a discussion about whistleblowers
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok from the Hlas party. (source: TASR)
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas) will propose to the government that it withdraw the criticised amendment to the Whistleblowers Protection Act. The minister says the changes require a wider expert discussion “so that they aren’t misused again for the opposition’s political campaign”.
The coalition-controlled parliament was initially supposed to discuss an amendment to the law on Tuesday, and approve it in a fast-tracked legislative procedure. But Šutaj Eštok didn’t show up in the debating chamber to introduce the draft amendment. One of the major changes in the amendment is that protection for whistleblowers should no longer be provided to police officers.
“The current wording of the draft amendment proved to be insufficient in practice,” the minister explained his decision.
In his opinion, the purpose of the law is to ensure the protection of citizens who decide to blow the whistle, not the political protection of selected persons who decide to fix themselves in their positions.
The draft amendment was submitted to the parliament last December. Despite criticism, the government’s plan was to pass it without any expert discussion in the same month. Prior to submitting the draft amendment the minister had suspended several police investigators who dealt with high-profile corruption cases linked to the coalition parties. He did so despite the fact that they were whistleblowers under the protection of the law.
Courts are currently looking into the minister’s steps taken against the police officers.
Related: The Whistleblowers Protection Office welcomes the decision to withdraw the amendment to the Whistleblowers Protection Act. "The whistleblower protection agenda is too sensitive for the rules to be changed hastily and without an expert assessment of their effects in practice," noted the authority.
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FEATURE STORY FOR TUESDAY
He wrote a letter to Argentina. His lost cousin replied.
Emil Parizek with the old trunk that started the adventure. (source: Archive of EP)
Following the footsteps of his great-grandfather abroad, the Slovak Emil Parizek found his cousin Pablo, a descendant of immigrants, in Buenos Aires. All that because of an old dusty trunk.
SONG FOR TUESDAY
“Delia Nás”
Listen to Slovak musician Jana Kirschner’s beautiful single “Delia Nás” (They Divide Us). The song will appear on the artist’s upcoming album “Obyčajnosti”. It will be released in March.
In other news
The Justice Ministry cancelled the call for subsidies under the 2024 Human Rights programme, worth €769,500, and plans to reallocate the resources for victims of violence instead. The Slovensko party called on Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer) to restore the subsidies. (TASR)
Volvo Car Slovakia on Tuesday announced the appointment of new plant manager and project manager for Volvo Car Košice, Marc Gombeer. The previous head of the future plant, Björn Helldén, will continue to lead the main project team and support the completion of Volvo’s all-electric car plant in Košice. (TASR)
The reasons to scrap the charges in the Gorilla corruption case (2011) on Monday were purely formal, Prosecutor Alexander Feník said on Tuesday. The charges may be pressed again soon. In November 2022 financier Jaroslav Haščák and four other people were charged with setting up, masterminding and supporting a criminal group. Haščák was also charged with money laundering.
A group of opposition MPs from the SaS, KDH and Slovensko parties lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court on Tuesday regarding the approved Penal Code. They maintain that the law is unconstitutional.
Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini (Hlas) will proceed in accordance with the law when publishing the amendment to the Penal Code in the Collection of Laws. The opposition parties called on Pellegrini as well as Justice Minister Susko not to delay its publication. They think the governing coalition is attempting to prevent the Constitutional Court from deciding on motions in connection with the amendment before it enters into force.
Former Slovak president Ivan Gašparovič, President Zuzana Čaputová, former Slovak presidents Rudolf Schuster and Andrej Kiska sit at the table during a joint lunch in the Presidential Palace in Bratislava on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. (source: TASR)
WEATHER FOR WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with rain developing in some places. Daytime temperatures will range from 7°C to 12°C. (SHMÚ)
FEBRUARY 21 NAME'S DAY IN SLOVAKIA: Eleonóra.
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