Prime Minister Robert Fico, speaking on the state-owned Czech television (ČT) on October 18, said that Slovakia may also ask for the same exemption or opt-out in the Treaty of Lisbon, more precisely in the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights – in line with what is being called for by Czech President Václav Klaus vis-a-vis the Beneš Decrees, the TASR newswire reported.
According to Fico, Slovakia will decide about this based on whether or not an exemption is granted to the Czech Republic and based on the wording of the exemption. Beneš Decrees are included in the Slovak statutes and if the Czech Republic receives an exception, Slovakia may be threatened by legal uncertainty, said Fico for the TASR. The Beneš Decrees of 1945 saw German ethnics dispossessed in the newly-formed Czechoslovakia and, likewise, Hungarians were dispossessed in south Slovakia.
Fico said that each EU country has its own legal historical issues that shouldn't be ignored. Other countries were very obliging when individual approaches were considered for Great Britain, Ireland or Poland. The Slovak prime minister also said that it's important for the Treaty of Lisbon to be ratified. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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