Gluck, Migal, Plavakova, Caucik Not Identified with Harabin in Judicial Council

(TA3, 'V politike', May 5) Ex-justice minister and former Supreme Court head Stefan Harabin shouldn't become a Judicial Council member, MPs Richard Gluck (Smer-SD), Lucia Plavakova (Progressive Slovakia/PS) and Marian Caucik (Christian Democrats/KDH) concurred on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday. MP Samuel Migal (Voice-SD), also on the show, said that Voice-SD isn't fully identified with Harabin's potential nomination, either. Gluck views it unfortunate that the Slovak National Party (SNS) announced Harabin's nomination as a Judicial Council candidate through the media. "In my opinion, the nominees shouldn't have a political past, so Stefan Harabin should not be nominated for this reason alone," said Gluck. Migal noted that if SNS insists on this candidate, Voice-SD will have to sit over it. KDH won't support potential Harabin's nomination. "The judiciary should be independent," stated Caucik. According to Plavakova, Harabin is a representative of the darkest period of the Slovak judiciary. She also views as scandalous the way in which Jan Mazak and Andrej Majernik were dismissed from the Judicial Council by Parliament. The position of the Voice-SD party, which sees no reason to open the coalition agreement, still holds, said Migal, reiterating that the parliamentary chair post belongs to Voice-SD. Asked about potential two parliamentary vice-chair posts for SNS, Migal said that these matters must be resolved at the Coalition Council meeting. "There's need to do anything for the coalition to be stable," added Gluck. ko