The parliamentary committee on European affairs was due to discuss the issue of abducted Ukrainian children on Wednesday, but this didn't happen, however, as at the suggestion of MP Jan Mažgút (Smer-SD) coalition MPs removed the item from the meeting's agenda.
Mažgút defended this by stating that the same item was already included on the agenda for Parliament's plenary session. The opposition pointed out that it was tabled back in May and that MPs hadn't yet had a chance to discuss it.
"The session will continue until the end of this week, at the very least. After that, there's a break planned, partly due to All Saints Day, and then the agenda will continue. I believe that it will be dealt with," said Mažgút when asked whether MPs would get around to a resolution condemning the transfer of children to Russia. He considers it to be an abuse of process to use a committee meeting at which Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) was briefing MPs on the planned European Council meeting for this purpose.
During the session, MP Branislav Škripek (KDH) also questioned the Premier on this issue. He wanted to know why Slovakia hadn't endorsed the communique of the international initiative for the return of Ukrainian children and what was happening with US President Donald Trump's Peace Council. The Prime Minister replied that the Peace Council was defunct and no longer active. According to him, Slovakia didn't sign the communique because it was merely an observer. He claimed that the country is taking other measures, such as setting up a Ukrainian school in Bratislava and organising stays for Ukrainian children in Slovakia.
Following the meeting, Škripek also criticised the removal of the item from the agenda, pointing out that the entire opposition had tabled a resolution on Ukrainian children for discussion back in May. "It is now October, and we still haven't got round to discussing it. We find this truly distressing, as it's an international disgrace," he stressed.
Source: TASR
