President Believes Government Will Defend Constitutional Amendment

Bratislava, 21 November (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini believes that the Slovak government will successfully defend the amendment to the Constitution in the European Commission's infringement proceedings so that Slovakia's national interests won't be jeopardised in terms of national sovereignty or the use of EU funds, TASR was told by the President Office's communications department on Friday. "Slovakia is a stable and responsible member of the European Union that has the right to its sovereign positions, just like all member states of the Union," the president added in his statement. The EC announced on Friday that it's initiated an infringement procedure, objecting to the provisions added to Article 7 of the Constitution which "allow Slovak authorities, including courts, to assess whether and to what extent EU law may apply in Slovakia, including rulings of the Court of Justice". According to the EC, this contravenes the principle of the primacy of EU law, which is a fundamental element of the EU's legal order, along with the principles of autonomy, effectiveness and uniform application of Union law". Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated in response that no changes will be made to the Slovak Constitution in connection with the infringement procedure, and there will be no changes to what was introduced in the Constitution via the most recent amendments. am/df