Smer to vote in favour of special parliamentary session on Dubovcová

The ruling Smer party will vote in favour of the agenda for an opposition-initiated special parliamentary session on Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová, enabling the parliament to hold the session January 29.

“I think this topic is serious enough... and deserves to be debated. And we are ready for that,” said Smer caucus head Jana Laššáková for the TASR newswire, adding that the session will be attended by Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák.

The session was initiated by the People's Party platform (Slovak democratic and Christian Union-SDKÚ, Christian-Democratic Movement-KDH, and Most-Híd) after the government at a regular session refused to allow Dubovcová to express her concerns regarding a brutal police raid at a Roma settlement near Moldava nad Bodvou last June. Prime Minister Robert Fico claimed that Dubovcová overstepped her powers by addressing the cabinet directly, failing to appeal to its subordinate bodies - the Interior Ministry and the police. The ombudswoman maintains that she’s appealed both to the ministry and the Police Corps - to no avail. Dubovcová views the crackdown as an example of the use of inappropriate force.

The aim of the People’s Platform is to express its grave concerns over the failure of the government to let the ombudswoman speak at the session, to get parliament to discuss her special report on the potential violation of human rights and freedoms, and to oblige the government to tackle the lack of adequate premises for the ombudswoman’s office.

(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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