Parliament has once again postponed discussions on the annual reports of the Prosecutor General and the Public Defender of Rights.
Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka described the repeated postponement of the report on the activities of the prosecution service and the state of legality in 2024 as "very unfortunate." Public Defender of Rights Róbert Dobrovodský said that by delaying consideration of his report, parliament is harming itself because it will remain unaware of the problems people in Slovakia are facing.
According to Lucia Plaváková (PS), chair of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, the coalition is sending a signal that it is not interested in these reports. She said the situation has repeated itself every year.
"In 2025, the reports of the Commissioner for Children, the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, the Public Defender of Rights and other human rights institutions were similarly moved from one parliamentary session to another, even though these institutions draw attention to serious problems identified through complaints submitted by people in Slovakia."
Miroslav Čelár (Hlas-SD), chair of the Constitutional Law Committee, said the coalition was not pleased with the postponement. However, he argued that the opposition had used every opportunity to prolong proceedings "artificially rather than professionally."
"From the perspective of time management, these items had to be postponed until September."
Čelár said there should be sufficient time during the September session to discuss the reports.
Political scientist Jozef Lenč said ignoring democratic institutions undermines public trust.
"We know that even when these reports were presented in parliament in the past, the number of MPs in the chamber could be counted on two hands. There was rarely any discussion, so from this perspective it is disrespectful."Constitutional lawyer Ladislav Oros said the postponement reflects parliament's failure to fulfil one of its basic responsibilities.
"Parliament has an oversight role. Failing to perform it has a very negative impact on its work."According to Oros, by not debating these reports, MPs remain unfamiliar with the information they contain and are therefore unable to use it in their legislative and oversight work.
The next parliamentary session is scheduled for 15 September.
Source: STVR, Simona Gablíková
