BRATISLAVA, July 13, (WEBNOVINY) — On Wednesday, the Slovak Parliament gave the go-ahead to the Cabinet’s amendment to the Labor Code in the final third reading. Seventy-four of one hundred forty-four deputies present voted in its favor, seventy legislators were opposed. Nobody abstained from the vote. Four Ordinary People MPs left the Parliament chamber before the vote, lowering the quorum and abiding to their threats not to support the bill.
Opposition SMER-SD Chairman Robert Fico told the media that the Labor Code would not have passed if “those people” honored what they promised. Fico is convinced that Matovic and the coalition agreed upon him not being present at the vote. “Matovic only wanted to blackmail, as usually. He had no other choice,” Fico claimed.
He also says that adopting such important bill with less than a half of all votes is something not seen in Slovak parliament before. “Were I the prime minister, I would not agree with such practice. I would rather ask the parliament speaker to interrupt the parliament session until the coalition finds a compromise,” emphasized Fico. He underlined what he calls his party’s stability with all 62 MPs voting against the draft. “The coalition is in terrible condition, they call each other names. […] They blackmail each other in the public, they blackmail each other in the corridors. And one incompetent prime minister is watching,” commented Fico on the vote.
The former prime minister also considers the amended Labor Code to infringe its aim, being too employer-friendly. “Rights based in the Labor Code are property of the employees. The Cabinet took their property, their rights, guaranteed to them by the Labor Code,” he said.
According to the Ordinary People, they did not want the draft to not pass, only the vote to be postponed. According to Matovic, several SMER-SD MPs had problem with this, as they wanted to leave for their holidays as soon as possible.
SITA
