On Monday, MPs in the Slovak Parliament are meeting to discuss certain bills, most prominently a constitutional law allowing the Government to extend the state of emergency beyond 90 days. The current state of emergency in Slovakia expires on December 29.
Shortly before the last possible date of voting on the amendment of the constitutional law on the state of emergency, chief hygienist Ján Mikas issued a decree that would allow MPs with COVID-19 or those who should be in quarantine to go to Parliament.
The Denník N daily commented the step as a controversial decision, because the measures against the spread of the disease in parliament have been followed very strictly so far. At the beginning of November, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Juraj Šeliga (For the People), expelled MPs of the Far Right People's Party Our Slovakia because they refused to present the state security guards with a certificate of a negative antigen or PCR test.
Opposition, as well as media and even members of the coalition are criticizing the move.
Opposition party Smer-SD has criticised the Government's plan to extend the current state of emergency as motivated by its quest to curb people's political rights, including the right to organise public protests, and make it more difficult for those who want to collect signatures across the country for organising a referendum on a snap election.
Tomáš Valášek, a member of the coalition For the People party and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for European affairs called the vote an unnecessary mistake. He pointed to the fact that if an infected person goes to every other job, they are in danger of legal prosecution. "If politicians want to criticize quarantine violations next time, why should people take them seriously?" he warns. According to Valášek, the argument that parliament is the critical infrastructure of the state does not stand up. He recalls that MPs have known for months that this situation could arise. "The vote is urgent only because it has not happened before. Not a pandemic, not force majeure, but the human factor has decided, "said Valášek. He claims that in April he wrote a report to the leadership of the National Council stating that the grounds for remote voting should be prepared, following the example of the European Parliament. "I see it that in a situation where the government needs to maintain the already fragile public confidence in restrictive measures, the coalition has just scored an own goal," concluded Valášek.
The current state of emergency should expire on December 29, while the existing constitutional law is not specific whether it can be extended or not. Several legal experts have said that it can not. At the same time they believe that the national lockdown ordered for December 19-January 10 can't be enforced outside a state of emergency.
