Slovak Parliament greenlighted too many such bills, even though it was necessary to approve bills via fast track-proceedings due to the corona crisis, says a political scientist from Comenius University in Bratislava, Darina Malová. According to her, the fast-track proceedings always have a negative impact on the stability and cultivation of parliamentary democracy.
Coalition representatives agree that the use of fast-track proceedings was justified. "I think that many of the approved bills did not even meet the criteria to be passed via the procedure. However, we have to distinguish those bills that were approved during the state of emergency, whose aim was to protect the lives and health of people," said the MP of the largest governing Ordinary People Party Milan Vetrák.
Among these bills was, for example, the one that transformed the Office of Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation into the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation and the bill containing approximately 100 economic measures aimed at taking the bureaucratic burden off businesses' shoulders. "These are bills that concern the arrangement of government institutions. I think that it would have been for the better if there had been an actual debate in Parliament on them..." noted Malová.
The political scientist noted that the fast-track procedure is an extraordinary measure and every government that resorts to it should be aware of the risks entailed. "It means bypassing the legislative process, which ultimately limits the role of the opposition, debates in Parliament and, of course, the expressing of public opinion," said Malová
Of the 43 bills Parliament has approved since March 2020, 41 were passed via a fast-track procedure.
