Rasi and Groehling Clash Over Referendum Decision and Sanctions Resolution...(2)

(TA3, 'V politike', 8 June) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) said that President Peter Pellegrini’s decision not to call a referendum on anti-Russian sanctions was based on a clear legal interpretation that the conditions required by law had not been met and that the proposed referendum would be difficult to implement, while his opponent, SaS leader and opposition MP Branislav Groehling, argued it was an arbitrary decision and that the president should have consulted the Constitutional Court in case of doubt. "This institution [Constitutional Court] exists precisely to decide on disputed cases concerning referendum questions," emphasised the leader of the opposition party. Rasi, on the other hand, sees no reason to turn to the Constitutional Court if the president received a clear legal opinion from the legal experts. "Should they then turn to the Constitutional Court every time?" Rasi asked. The president said on Wednesday that a referendum initiated by the extra-parliamentary Slovak Revival Movement on lifting sanctions against Russia can't be declared. He sees ambiguities in the requested question: "Do you agree that the Slovak Republic should not apply sanctions against the Russian Federation that harm Slovak citizens, sole traders and businesses?". In his view, the proposal for a referendum is not clear, definite or predictable and would therefore be unworkable in practice. Groehling and Rasi also disagreed on the issue of the parliamentary resolution on anti-Russian sanctions from Thursday. According to Rasi, the resolution passed thanks to opposition MP Martina Bajo Holeckova from SaS. Groehling rejected such claims, calling it political play. "The resolution proposal came from the coalition," he said. He considers the confusion during the opposition’s vote to be a closed matter that should serve as a lesson. "We should have clearly expressed our position on the anti-Russian sanctions, which we see as the right step and a way to weaken Russia, which is waging war," he admitted. According to the resolution, which was submitted by the coalition Slovak National Party (Slovak National Party/SNS), cabinet members shouldn't vote in international organisations to adopt new sanctions and trade restrictions against Russia. Fifty-one of the 76 MPs present for the vote backed the draft. They included the whole SNS caucus, most of the Smer-SD caucus, some Voice-SD MPs and several Independents. Jan Ferencak (Voice-SD) voted against the draft, while an additional 23 MPs, mainly from the Voice-SD caucus, abstained from voting. Opposition MPs didn't take part in the vote. lin