BRATISLAVA, June 14, (WEBNOVINY) — The Cabinet Office of the Slovak Republic cannot agree with the opinion of President Ivan Gasparovic who said that “relatively large legislative chaos reigns” in Slovakia when he evaluated the first year in office of the Cabinet led by Iveta Radicova (SDKU-DS). The press department of the Cabinet Office released a statement reading that “the government of the Slovak Republic proceeds in compliance with the approved 2011 plan of legislative tasks and the framework plan of legislative tasks for the fifth election term when they prepare legislative drafts and submit them to the parliament. Therefore, we rule out the reign of chaos”.
The office further reminds that draft bills elaborated by legislators are an expression of their constitutionally anchored right of a legislative initiative and the free execution of their parliamentary mandate, which also includes the right to withdraw the blueprint after the corresponding debate. “Every single bill is debated and it has never happened that necessary legal norms, particularly those tailored by the government, would not be approved and introduced into practice,” according to the statement. The office pointed out that the situation in the previous electoral term often was chaotic but the president did not use this use this word back then in his evaluations.
The fact is that PM Iveta Radicova and Chairwoman of the Cabinet’s Legislative Council and Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska at the beginning of the year invited the president to nominate a representative of the Office of the President of the Slovak Republic to the Legislative Council. In February, the president called this initiative “the first move toward how it should function normally” but he has not replied to the offer yet, the statement further reads.
The first year since the formation of the post-election coalition has been a year of searching for oneself and for understanding within the coalition, stated President Ivan Gasparovic for the press with regard to the work of the ruling coalition in the first year. According to the president, such search is underway also in individual coalition parties, where deputies differ in opinions on fulfilling the government program statement, which results in problems in adopting laws. “There is presently a large legislative chaos in Slovakia,” the head of state noted. Gasparovic went on to say that “there are drafts of new laws that are then not carried through, there are drafts submitted by the Cabinet, which eventually are not Cabinet draft bills, but parliamentary bills, and vice versa”.
SITA