Slovak opposition parties plan to ask President Ivan Gašparovič to postpone his appointing of Jaromír Čižnár to the post of general prosecutor, and to wait for the decision of the Slovak Constitutional Court concerning the complaint of Jozef Čentéš, who was elected to the post in June 2011. Čentéš is appealing the president’s decision not to appoint him. The TASR newsiwre wrote that the opposition’s request for Gašparovič has been written and signatures for its support are being collected.
President Gašparovič is expected to begin Čižnár’s appointment procedure on Wednesday June 19, as the latter was elected to the post by parliament the day before. Both the president’s spokesperson Marek Tubač and Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška’s spokesperson Pavol Chovanec indicated that the president could start the appointment process on June 19. Chovanec said that the proposal to appoint Čižnár should be delivered to the president on Wednesday afternoon, and Trubač added, as quoted by TASR, that Gašparovič will deal with the proposal as soon as he receives it. However, the president is not bound by any deadlines when appointing the general prosecutor, and based on the ruling of the Slovak Constitutional Court, he can decide not to appoint him under certain circumstances.
Commenting on the election of a new general prosecutor in Slovakia, the chairman of the European People’s Party, MEP Joseph Daul, wrote in a press release: "I have learned with great astonishment that Slovakian Socialist MPs yesterday elected their own candidate, the former classmate of PM Robert Fico, for the post of general prosecutor despite the fact that Slovakia already has a legitimate, elected general prosecutor. As a result of this election, Slovakia has today two general prosecutors. I am worried about the situation in the judiciary system, the negative effects it could have on the functioning of the Constitution and the application of the rule of law, and the further direction of the Slovak Republic. I call on the President of the Slovak Republic to postpone approving the election of both elected candidates until the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the issue is known. My group will ask the European Commission to look into the matter to establish whether the rule of law and the European spirit of democracy have been applied thoroughly in this case.”
(Source: TASR, EEP press release)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
