President Peter Pellegrini signed the amendment to the Slovak Constitution on Tuesday. He described its adoption by a constitutional majority as an important signal at a time of "huge division in society," noting that a consensus on this particular issue exists across the political spectrum and needs to be respected.
The amendment enshrines the existence of two genders – male and female. It also expands the constitutional regulation of social rights, specifically the status of the family and the enshrinement of parental rights, and will now include a ban on surrogacy.
"The Constitution will also now guarantee equal pay for equal work between men and women," noted the Presidential Office.
According to the Presidential Office, the amendment highlights Slovakia's sovereignty in fundamental cultural-ethical matters, including the "protection of life and human dignity, private and family life, marriage, parenthood and family, culture and language, as well as related areas such as health care, upbringing and education".
Public Ombudsman Robert Dobrovodsky criticised the approval of the amendment, warning that the vague concept of "national identity" could limit the protection of fundamental human rights under European legislation.
He also pointed out that “the phrase ‘fundamental cultural and ethical issues’ is neither defined in legislation nor interpreted by any Slovak court rulings. It is a completely new legal term. In recent years, these words have frequently appeared in political debates concerning issues of parenting and family, child adoption, same-sex cohabitation, or abortion.”
According to the Ombudsman, the approved changes regarding Slovakia's sovereignty in cultural and ethical matters also violate Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, “which stipulates that a state may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.”
Dobrovodsky warned that the new constitutional provisions could result in non-compliance with decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Furthermore, the changes could prohibit the Constitutional Court from interpreting fundamental rights and freedoms in light of rulings from these European courts.
In reaction to concerns raised by the Eurpean Commision (EC), Justice Ministry spokesperson Petar Lazarov stated on Tuesday that Slovakia remains bound by international law even after the adoption of the constitutional amendment.
"The content of national identity will also be construed under the influence of supranational institutions (the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights) and supranational law within the framework of dialogue, mutual cooperation, loyalty, subsidiarity, proportionality, and so on," said Lazarov.
According to him, with the proposed wording of Article 7 on Slovakia's sovereignty in matters of values and cultural-ethical issues, the content of specific areas is not fixed, leaving them open to a democratic solution, as well as the influence of European and international law.
"The constitutional amendment uses open-textured language, and only application in practice will show how it is actually implemented in reality," Lazarov stressed.
Source: TASR
