Varín municipal council rejects name change for Josef Tiso street

The members of the Varín municipal council have rejected a ‘protest’ by the Slovak General Prosecutor's Office (GP) that a street named after controversial wartime Slovak president Dr Josef Tiso be changed. Varín’s municipal deputies announced that they plan to submit the question to a local referendum, in which residents will be able to decide whether to rename the street or not. The issue surrounding the name of the street was raised last year by municipal deputy Lenka Ticháková, whose proposal to rename the street was not approved by her fellow deputies. This was followed by criticism from the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities, with the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters also calling on the council to rename the street. At the end of 2021, the National Criminal Agency charged ten municipal deputies with the crime of showing sympathy for a movement aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms. In January of this year, however, the charges were dropped. The General Prosecutor weighed in in May of this year. The council now has an obligation to discuss it within 90 days.