Pellegrini: Parliament Won't Held Special Session on Bear Situation for Now (2)

Bratislava, March 28 (TASR) - A special parliamentary session dedicated to a draft constitutional law on protection against bear attacks won't take place for now, Parliamentary Chair Peter Pellegrini (Voice-SD) announced on Thursday. A law that would make it possible to shoot bears that pose a risk should be discussed via fast-track legislative proceedings at the next regular House session. However, Pellegrini is ready to convene the special session if another incident involving a bear-human encounter occurs. "I was ready to convene a special session. However, after consulting it with Vice-premier and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) I decided to initiate a debate on this point via fast-track legislative proceedings at the next regular House session," said Pellegrini, who praised the draft itself and its adoption at Wednesday's (March 27) government session. He pointed out that the number of incidents involving bear-human encounters in towns and villages is growing, with the most recent case in Liptovsky Mikulas forcing the authorities to take action as quickly as possible, he said. "One of the primary tasks of the government and responsible politicians is to protect people and guarantee safety to them," he stressed. Taraba praised Pellegrini's attitude. "I take him at his word that in the event of another case of a person being threatened by a bear, he will convene a special House session immediately," he said. He views a solution in the form of a constitutional law to be the surest way to apply the current law. He doesn't think that this form would be condemned to failure in advance with the current numbers in Parliament. He said that opposition politicians have a right to show whether they actually care about people's safety. He's ready to react to potential objections from the European Union. The government at its session on Wednesday approved a draft constitutional law dealing with the increased numbers of bears in the vicinity of towns and villages and related safety threats. The bill would allow towns and villages to set up 500-metre safety zones around them in which it would be possible to kill bears without administrative proceedings if there is a clear risk of an encounter between people and the animals. The bill has been criticised by the opposition, who view it as non-systemic and at odds with EU legislation. ko/df