BRATISLAVA, February 9, (WEBNOVINY) – The parliament will not decide on the fate of the three draft bills amending the state citizenship law on Wednesday as the coalition deputies have not agreed yet on joint procedure regarding the citizenship issue. The coalition solution, which should enable acquiring foreign citizenship without losing the Slovak one, will not be supported by four deputies from the Ordinary People faction of the SaS deputy club. The group came up with their own amending proposal instead. They have support of the opposition and of Radoslav Prochazka (KDH). The parliament should vote on the legislation changes on Thursday.
The leader of SMER-SD, the strongest opposition party, Robert Fico protested against the decision to postpone the vote. “Inability to reach an agreement is not a reason to postpone a vote,” he told Pavol Hrusovsky of KDH, who led the parliamentary session. As the coalition deputies have not agreed on how to resolve the situation, the parliament will not vote either on another amendment to the law on state citizenship tailored by SMER-SD. The vote on a revision of the law on state service prepared by the KDH was postponed, too. It stipulates that individuals with dual citizenship cannot be employed in security forces.
The parliament also decided to put off the voting on issues debated during Wednesday’s session till Thursday, 11:30 a.m. One of them is the election of the director general of the super-broadcaster Slovak Radio and Television and the nine-strong council , which should take place before the noon.
Tomas Galbavy of SDKU-DS has expressed hope during the debate that the reform of public service media will be set in such a way to justify their existence. Former Culture Minister Marek Madaric (SMER-SD) has reiterated the position of his party, stating the vote will be political and that the broadcaster will be chaired by a political candidate. It has been clear right from the onset that the merger of the Slovak Television and the Slovak Radio pursues one goal, to occupy and usurp the public service media, or today only one public service broadcaster, the ex-minister insists . He has once again criticized several candidates for the post on the council because they failed to meet professional experience requirements. Pavol Abrhan (KDH) has countered that Madaric should have named these candidates and asked the deputies to vote on their exclusion. Deputy Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Culture and Media Committee Magdalena Vasaryova (SDKU-DS) has added that debts of the Slovak Television mounted during the rule of the previous coalition, which appointed to the top post in STV Radim Hreha and later Stefan Niznansky.
SITA