Opposition: Consolidation Measures Should Have Been Addressed Earlier

Bratislava, 12 September (TASR) - The poor state of public finances has been known for a long time, and measures to aid their recovery should have been presented earlier, so they should be discussed via a standard legislative process and not hastily via a fast-tracked legislative procedure, a number of opposition MPs stated on Friday in the debate on a proposal for fast-tracked proceedings on the consolidation package for next year. "In a decent country we would have had this first discussion on consolidation in May. In a decent country it's debated early, you follow the rules, in this case, among others, the legislative rules. In a decent country laws are changed so that people can prepare for them, so that they can learn about the surprises that the government is planning earlier," said Stefan Kiss (Progressive Slovakia/PS). Marian Viskupic (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) pointed out that fast-tracked legislative procedures should be used in extraordinary situations that arise unexpectedly and need to be responded to quickly. "But this is not the case with consolidation. The situation concerning the poor state of public finances, the threat of high interest rates, the rapid growth in debt didn't arise yesterday, a month ago or a year ago," he noted, adding that the coalition should have started working on the consolidation package in January, and changes in laws could have been dealt with since then via a standard legislative process. At that time, all those affected could have commented on them and possibly improved the proposals. am/df