BRATISLAVA, August 10, (WEBNOVINY) — The Slovak Parliament is scheduled to vote on the program manifesto of the new center-right government on Tuesday’s afternoon. Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik said that Prime Minister Iveta Radicova will take the floor at 2 p.m. to read her concluding speech. Then, the parliament will vote on the government program statement. At present, four more deputies are yet to take the floor in the debate about the program.
The ruling coalition of SDKU, SaS, KDH and MOST-HID has a slim majority of 79 votes in the 150-seat Slovak Parliament. It is expected that all deputies for the governing parties will support the basic document of the new government formed after elections on June 12.
Speaker of Parliament Sulik has convened another parliamentary session for Tuesday, commencing after the ongoing session with the confidence vote in the new government closes. The proposed agenda of the next session features twelve points, including a draft amendment of the competence law and an amendment to the Penal Code. Also the draft bill amending the Constitution made it on the agenda curbing immunity from criminal prosecution of parliamentary deputies and judges.
The constitutional amendment limits deputy immunity only to MPs’ statements on the parliamentary ground. Judges’ immunity should be restricted in a similar manner. However, the consent of Parliament or the Constitutional Court in case of judges will be still necessary to take a parliamentary deputy, a judge or prosecutor general into custody. A constitutional majority of ninety votes is needed to pass the immunity amendment. This is why without opposition support, this undertaking cannot succeed.
Parliament will discuss in an expedited legislative procedure a draft amendment to the competence law, which should reestablish the Environment Ministry, which was scrapped on the initiative of former Prime Minister Robert Fico. Its duties were shifted to the Agriculture Ministry as of July 1.
The draft amendment to the Penal Code should prevent a ping-pong of penal cases between courts and the prosecutor’s office. If approved, the amendment will prevent the previous amendment of the norm taking effect on September 1, as approved by parliament during its previous term. According to it, the court could return a penal case for additional investigation to the prosecutor practically because of any reason, which could significantly protract the penal procedure.
SITA
