The Patriot Act is to be submitted to parliament without the backing of the parliamentary committee on culture and media, after it voted to rejected President Ivan Gašparovič's veto on Tuesday, April 20. The president sent the law back to parliament with a proposal that it be postponed until September (rather than coming into force on April 1, as originally intended) so as allow schools to make necessary preparations.
Among the lawmakers who backed the president’s veto and proposed postponement was committee deputy chairman Dušan Jarjabek of Smer, the largest party in the ruling coalition, the TASR newswire wrote. Gyula Bárdos of the opposition Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), fearing the bill would lead to marginalisation of ethnic minorities, did not vote. He argued that the measures should be dealt with as part of the existing State Symbols Act.
The Patriot Act, proposed by the ruling-coalition Slovak National Party (SNS), will be voted on during a session of parliament called for April 27 that currently has a total of 10 different items on the agenda.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
