Singing of foreign anthems shall not be penalised

Singing a foreign anthem in Slovakia can no longer be penalised, after the Parliament greenlighted on Wednesday an amending proposal to the State Symbol Act in order to rectify the recently approved legislation sponsored by the coalition Slovak National Party. The legislation, however, still allows the issuing of fines to the tune of €7,000, but only for the original reason that prompted the drafting of the law in the first place: state symbols on ice-hockey jerseys. Despite the fact that the Slovak National Party still insists its proposal did not ban the singing of foreign anthems, Most-Híd chairman Béla Bugár pointed out that an agreement was made to redress the situation and remove provisions that "invited certain concerns". The bill is now in President Andrej Kiska's hands and Bugár voiced hope that the issue would finally be done with.