THE SEAT of the ombudswoman should relocate from Bratislava to Košice, according to the recent proposal by Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška, who plans to submit the proposal to that effect at the March parliamentary session. He argues that by moving to the east she will be “closer to the reality” of the region where many Roma live, the TASR newswire reported on January 30.
Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová however regards such move as a punishment for her good work. The ombudswoman’s office currently does not have a permanent seat funded by the state, thus she has to sit in rented premises.
“I told her that it would be good if the office was outside Bratislava,” Paška said, as quoted by TASR, adding that he has already offered her a spot in Banská Bystrica, but she refused.
According to Paška, all Dubovcová’s colleagues represent a party cell of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), in which she served as an MP between 2010 and 2012, adding that “it is unimaginable for them to leave the capital”.
“I will use all my powers to change the law to place the headquarters in the east,” he said, as quoted by TASR.
Dubovcová responded that it is “a punishment, and also a warning for [my] activities”. She also assumes that it will “further paralyse the ombudsman’s activities, while even now there are not good working conditions”, as quoted by TASR.
Dubovcová, who lives in Banská Bystrica, said that for her it does not make much difference travelling to Bratislava or Košice, but it would certainly complicate the lives of young lawyers who work in her Bratislava office.
Meanwhile, 84 MPs backed a resolution expressing serious concerns about attempts to misuse the police crackdown at a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou, Košice Region, in June 2013 to create both anti-Roma and anti-police sentiment, TASR wrote.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
