BRATISLAVA September 10 (WEBNOVINY) — Former Prime Minister and opposition SMER-SD leader Robert Fico is calling on representatives of the governing coalition to cooperate on the draft constitutional bill limiting parliamentary immunity. He said at a news conference on Friday that he welcomes the decision to postpone the vote on the amendment until October. According to him, it would be appropriate for representatives of political parties as well as of the Constitutional Court to met and discuss this draft after the referendum on September 18. The result should be an agreement on the common draft to limit immunity and it should be presented as a proposal for a change of the constitutional amendment during a parliamentary debate before voting in third reading.
Fico wants to initiate the discussion of the opposition and coalition representatives through deputy speakers of parliament Pavol Hrusovsky, Milan Hort and Bela Bugar. He claims it is impossible to discuss with the Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik, as in his view Sulik is beyond political reality. He called on Sulik’s party the SaS to „stop with cocaine parties, because they are losing their minds.“
SMER-SD will bring to such discussions its own proposals. For example if a member of parliament commits a misdemeanor, the police should report him to the particular parliamentary committee, which will fine him/her. On the other hand, SMER-SD refuses to discuss about abolition of parliamentary immunity from prosecution, as it is currently proposed.
According to Fico, the referendum initiated by the SaS party is useless because it is only a recommendation and it does not bind the parliamentarians to anything. The referendum may show public opinion on the subject of immunity.
SITA