European lawmakers said Tuesday they worry Slovakia is threatening to become the EU’s new enfant terrible.
“Is Slovakia on a path to become the next Hungary? To be very honest, that remains to be seen, but some patterns are strikingly similar,” said Sophie Wilmés, a European Parliament vice president with the liberal Renew Europe group, during a presentation of a final report by the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee (LIBE) after a mission to Bratislava.
Wilmés, the former Belgian prime minister who now chairs the Parliament’s watchdog for rule of law and democracy, led a group to Slovakia from June 1-3.
During the mission to assess the state of rule of law, democracy and human rights in the country, the four-member delegation met with government representatives, NGOs, key political players and journalists.
Wilmés said the committee had concerns about the independence of Slovakia’s judiciary, pressure on the media, justice reforms, as well as a law targeting NGOs that Bratislava adopted in April.
“Several reforms are particularly troubling, the abolition of the special prosecutor’s office and the restructuring of the national crime agency has, as far as we are concerned, weakened expertise and capacity,” Wilmés said.
Wilmés also pointed out the “habitual use of the fast-track legislative procedure” that “by definition limits parliamentary scrutiny.”
Wilmés said the tone of engagement with representatives in Slovakia was “constructive,” in stark contrast to the experience of members of the Parliament’s budgetary control committee (CONT), who visited Bratislava a week prior to assess alleged abuses of EU funds.
Center-right MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, from Czechia, who also presented the results of the CONT mission on Tuesday told POLITICO he faced threats over his visit to the country.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico denounced Zdechovský as “a hired assassin” working for the opposition.
Slovakia risks becoming ‘the next Hungary,’ EU lawmakers fear
Source: Viral Showbiz Pinay
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