Parliament on Thursday overrode the president's veto on a Labour Ministry-sponsored bill aimed at limiting free meals at schools to include only specific groups of children, approving the legislation in its original form. President Zuzana Caputova claimed that the amendment would create three groups of children. The children in the first group would be entitled to free meals. As for pupils in the second group, their parents would be eligible to apply for a tax bonus instead of free meals. The final group would consist of approximately 47,000 children who do not belong in either of the first two groups. They are living at risk of poverty, but the incomes of their families are higher than the subsistence minimum without being eligible for a tax bonus. Caputova asked Parliament to rectify this. OLaNO MP Lucia Drabikova on Thursday claimed that if the president's request were fulfilled, it would cause another injustice in the system. According to the MP, Labour Minister Milan Krajniak has promised that the bill, which is supposed to enter into force in August 2021, will be amended before it takes effect so that only two groups will exist.
Source: TASR
