Neither Majersky, nor Gaspar Understand Infringement Launched against Slovakia

(TA3,'V politike', 23 November) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, Christian Democrats (KDH) chairman Milan Majersky said that he doesn't understand why the European Commission has launched the so-called infringement against Slovakia in connection with the constitutional amendment. Majersky stressed that Slovakia hasn't violated and isn't violating the EU law with the amendment. He pointed out that the changes concerning the sovereignty of the Slovak law in cultural and ethical issues are in line with the basic EU documents. "Other countries have made similar changes, too," he stressed. Majersky noted that the Commission's action wasn't prompted by the amendment of the Constitution itself, but by its potential misuse in the future. "The Commission should thus examine its potential future misuse. I don't understand what it will examine if nothing has been violated yet," he said. House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), also on the show, sees no reason to launch the proceedings, either. He stressed that Slovakia doesn't intend to give precedence to the national law in matters other than issues of national identity. He therefore thinks that the EC's action would make sense if national law were to be given precedence in areas where the EU has exclusive competence. Concerning the dismissal of Vice-premier for the Recovery Plan and Knowledge-based Economy Peter Kmec (Voice-SD) and the consideration about the potential scrapping of the entire office, Gaspar stated that he hasn't heard anything like that. "I can say that work is underway to determine whether savings can be made by merging some independently operating institutions with significant budgets," he said. The two politicians also commented on the peace plan offered by US President Donald Trump as a basis for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. They concurred that the proposed version should be modified to be acceptable to Ukraine. At the same time they admitted that it wouldn't be fair in terms of territorial losses. ko