BRATISLAVA, November 5, (WEBNOVINY) — The draft amendment to the Citizenship Act, submitted to Parliament MPs for three ruling coalition parties, SDKU-DS, SaS and MOST-HID, was in moved to the second reading on Friday. The amendment aims to remove from the law financial sanctions and loss of citizenship of the Slovak Republic in cases when a person acquires citizenship of another country based on his expression of will. “We are resolving what Fico’s government has left us. We are eliminating the negative impact on citizens of the Slovak Republic,” MOST-HID leader Bela Bugar stated. The Christian Democrats stayed away from the initiative as they prefer looking for other options.
Based on the valid law, a person is required to report a loss of citizenship immediately to the district office according to his/her place of permanent residence in Slovakia, otherwise he/she would face a fine of 3,319 euros.
The ruling coalition is striving to correct the controversial amendment to the citizenship law that the former ruling coalition adopted in May of this year, based on which a Slovak citizen who, for example, applies for Hungarian citizenship will lose his/her Slovak one. It was adopted in reaction to the citizenship law endorsed by the Hungarian Parliament, according to which dual citizenship can be granted by Budapest to ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia upon their request.
The amendment presented by Gabor Gal, Szilard Somogyi, and Pavol Kubovic removes financial penalties and loss of citizenship from the law. According to now valid Law on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic, prepared by the government of Robert Fico, a Slovak citizen automatically loses Slovak citizenship on the day, when, based on an explicit expression of will, he/she voluntarily acquires foreign citizenship. Since the amendment, if passed, will apply from 1 January 2011, it also addresses the loss of citizenship under the previous amendment. Those who have lost it would thus regain it. At the same time, the amendment eliminates all paragraphs on the loss of citizenship and exemption from that rule, introduced by the previous government, it exempts from paying related administrative fees citizens who lost their citizenship, foreigners over 65 years, disabled pensioners and severely disabled individuals.
SITA