- Prosecutor General Žilinka proposes to mark the Act on the Transformation of the ÚOO as unconstitutional.
- The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic already suspended the operation of the law in question last December.
- The opposition mainly criticizes the process of adopting the law and changes in the protection of whistleblowers.
- The European Commission has started infringement proceedings against Slovakia.
Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka delivered an opinion to the Constitutional Court (ÚS) of the Slovak Republic on Monday, in which it proposes that the law on the transformation of the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers (ÚOO) be declared unconstitutional. He informs about it on the social network.
“Today, I delivered to the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic an opinion on the proposal of a group of members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic to initiate proceedings on compliance with the Act on the Office for the Protection of Victims of Crimes and Whistleblowers of Anti-Social Activities,Žilinka states.
In the opinion, the Prosecutor General proposes that the ÚS SR comply with the petitioners and state that the shortened legislative procedure, the transformation of the ÚOO into another office, combined with the termination of the functions of its leading representatives and the change in the status of protected whistleblowers, resulted in violations of the Constitution of the SR. Last December, the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic suspended the operation of the Act on the transformation of the ÚOO into a new office. He accepted the proposal of the group of opposition members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic for further proceedings in its entirety.
In the submission, the opposition objects to the possible inconsistency of the law with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and the law of the European Union (EU), as well as the process of its adoption in abbreviated legislative proceedings. Deputies criticize, for example, the shortening of the term of office of the duly elected chairwoman of the ÚOO, as well as the changes regarding the provision and review of whistleblower protection. The public defender of rights Róbert Dobrovodský also supported the submission to the ÚS.
At the end of January, the European Commission (EC) announced that it had started infringement proceedings against Slovakia in connection with the adoption of the law in question. In addition to the agenda of whistleblowers, the new office should also deal with the agenda of compensating victims of crime, which it will take over from the Ministry of Justice. In addition, it deals with the review of protection in both criminal and administrative proceedings.
