The institute of legally acknowledged cohabitation will not be introduced in Slovakia for the time being, as Parliament failed to move a draft amendment to the Civil Code sponsored by the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party to its second reading on Wednesday. According to SaS MPs, the draft was meant to improve legislation in the area of proprietary rights concerning persons living in the same household. It would have been possible to conclude a cohabitation between same-sex, as well as opposite-sex couples. SaS proposed to introduce cohabiting partners' rights in the field of inheritance and access to information about each other's health condition. Only fifty out of 133 MPs present in the voting voted for the draft.
“I'm disappointed that, despite the declared support of MPs, the bill on legal cohabitation in partnership didn't find sufficient support during the vote in parliament”, President Zuzana Caputova posted on a social network on Wednesday. "Our society isn't threatened by the love of two people of the same sex or their partnership. Our society pays for indifference and insensitivity when even such a terrible tragedy doesn't move enough MPs to take the necessary and correct step towards the bereaved, the community and all of us," wrote the head of state, adding that hate attacks are an attack on the basic values of society and in this sense affect everyone. Caputova further stated that society's immediate response to the hate murder showed that it sympathises with the LGBTI+ community.
Justice Minister Viliam Karas was commissioned to prepare legislation to strengthen the rights of the LGBTI+ community, Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) stated at a press conference on Wednesday. Heger also added that at the upcoming summit of the European Union leaders, he wants to open up the topic of terrorism and the issue of regulating the content on social networks, so that the countries will jointly search for solutions. In response to the non-approval of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) sponsored proposal on partnership cohabitation, the premier stated that, as prime minister, it is more natural for him to pass legislative changes in this area through the government.
(TASR)
