The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic finds some parts of the legislature concerning the residency of foreigners and granting of asylum contradicts the Slovak Constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The decision was adopted at the Court's closed session on Wednesday. The parts in question deal with the simple argument of acting in compliance with the security interests of the Slovak Republic; giving no further reason for the decision when cancelling an application for temporary or permanent residency or opting for the administrative expulsion of a foreigner. According to the Constitutional court's verdict, the decision of the Interior Ministry to grant or withdraw asylum is also in contradiction. According to the law, this procedure is required if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the citizen of the third countries might be a threat to the state's security.
The part of the legislation was called into question by the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic already in 2016. According to its Senate, the principle of equity of the participants in the procedure and their right for a fair trial was thus breached. The Supreme Court's decision stemmed from a specific case when a foreign police authority in Bratislava rejected an application for permanent residency in 2013. Its Senate stated that providing no further reasons for the decision of the foreign police authority deprives a participant in the procedure of the chance to comment on all the evidence. "In case of the administrative as well as the review procedure, the aforementioned action creates significantly less favourable conditions for supporting the claim of this participant than those of the second participant in the procedure, i.e. the public administration authority," states the Supreme Court's Senate. Many similar procedures have been suspended for a couple of years to await the stance of the Constitutional Court. The Wednesday's decision will thus act as a precedent.
