BRATISLAVA, May 24, (WEBNOVINY) — Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik (SaS) still does not know whether the opposition SNS parliamentary caucus will continue its operations or will cease its existence. “I will consult this with my lawyers, I’ll consult it with the head of the Constitutional Committee and I’d like to decide on the issue by the end of the week,” Sulik told reporters at a news briefing on Tuesday. As he added, he will also take the recommendation of the Constitutional Committee into consideration.
After Anna Belousova and Rudolf Pucik left the opposition SNS parliamentary caucus on Tuesday, the caucus may cease to exist, as it already now consists of just seven members. As Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Radoslav Prochazka told reporters, the committee adopted a non-binding position to stick to its ten-year-old position, which insists that eight members are not only necessary for creating a caucus, but for maintaining its existence as well. “I was the only one to maintain a different opinion: that we only need eight MPs to create [a parliamentary caucus], as this is what the rules of procedure state,” said Prochazka.
Richard Sulik admits that it is possible to make a compromise on some rights for procedures, which assume existence of a parliamentary caucus. However, this is not that easy with every procedure. “There are things, such as participation at the Gremium, which we are able to decide. Yet most of the issues are such that it would be necessary to amend the rules of procedure. It should change this year, so we probably would take some further developments into consideration,” explained Sulik, adding, that he is not able to elaborate the issue into detail yet.
MPs Belousova and Pucik left the SNS caucus due to their aim of establishing a new political party. Belousova also emphasized that their so far participation in the caucus was only formal: Pucik attended its sessions only rarely, whereas she wasn’t invited at all.
SITA