Richter: It's Our Duty to Override President's Veto

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', May 3) It's our duty to override president's veto, MP and Smer-SD parliamentary caucus chair Jan Richter said on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), adding that the president's specific comments on the so-called law on COVID amnesties and the law on the life annuity for the prosecutor general should be discussed at the coalition council. "I personally believe that it's important for the coalition to agree on a possible compromise related to this. But I fully support and respect the conclusion offered by the prime minister [Robert Fico (Smer-SD)] in this case that it's our duty to override the president's [Peter Pellegrini] veto," said Richter. According to MP and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) deputy chairman Marian Viskupic, the life annuity for a "well-paid prosecutor" is nonsense. He appealed to the coalition not to override the president's veto. In his opinion, the government is doing nothing but inventing new expenses. "No prosecutor needs a life annuity today. He has a job, a very good salary and he'll have a very good pension anyway," he pointed out. Richter said a life annuity for the prosecutor-general is an unpopular but necessary solution. "It's quite natural to some extent when we have an interest in requiring certain things of prosecutors and 100 percent readiness and objectivity for a lot of difficult things they have to do. There is an interest in making sure that they are motivated for that to some extent," he explained. am