President Admits He'll Veto Draft Law on Whistleblowers Office

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', 6 December) Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), President Peter Pellegrini admitted the possibility that he'll return the draft law on changing the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) to a new office to Parliament for further discussion after reviewing it, and added that this is very likely to happen. The head of state justified this by saying that he wants to be sure that Slovakia won't have any problems on the domestic and, above all, international scene. According to his information, the European Union still has doubts about the bill. "I'm suggesting that the government hasn't been addressing the real problems of this country all week, but rather a substitute issue such as the scrapping of the office, and I can't guarantee today that I'll sign it. It's highly likely that I'll return it to Parliament after reviewing it, because I want to be sure that Slovakia won't have a problem with it, not only on the domestic scene, but especially on the international stage. I've read reports and some communications about how the negotiations in Brussels went, and Brussels still has doubts," said Pellegrini, asking why the urgency of the proposal was so strong that the government had to meet on Saturday (22 November) and "completely atypically" send it to the House via a fast-tracked legislative procedure. am