The parliamentary committee for social affairs and housing on January 21 recommended that parliament approve a proposal for a reviewed European Social Charter of the Council of Europe - one of four basic conventions concerning human rights.
Although the Charter was signed in 1999 by the-then Slovak labour minister Peter Magvaši, Slovakia has yet to ratify it, the TASR newswire wrote.
Labour Ministry State Secretary Emília Kršíková said at the committee session on Wednesday that the Charter is in line with the government’s manifesto, and that the ministry, in co-operation with its partners, has prepared a legal analysis of the document. "We submit this document with reservations, which means that we don't recommend that the Slovak Parliament should ratify all articles of the reviewed charter,” she said.
According to Kršíková, the ratification is in the interests of balance since during the current global economic crisis the state has introduced guarantees to protect businessmen, banks and insurance companies; the charter will oblige it to maintain minimum social standards via legislation. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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