Rasi: If MPs Acted Politely, People Wouldn't Need Any Code of Ethics

Bratislava, 19 December (TASR) - If MPs behaved as they should, nobody would feel the need for a code of ethics in Parliament, but under the current circumstances, it's no surprise that over 90 percent of respondents in a recent opinion poll were in favour of this idea, House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) declared in an interview with TASR TV. According to the results of a public opinion poll conducted for TASR by AKO agency on a sample of 1,000 respondents between 11 and 18 November, as many as 90.1 percent of people absolutely or tend to agree with adopting a code of ethics that would set the rules of behaviour for MPs, while 5.3 percent absolutely or tend to disagree. "I don't blame them at all; if asked by the agency, I'd say the same," stated Rasi, adding that he can't imagine MPs attending a session dressed informally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Also, the vocabulary chosen by British MPs during debates is, according to Rasi, miles away from the crude insults seen during the most recent session of Slovak Parliament. Rasi added that the code of ethics should establish a framework for acceptable behaviour by MPs, while the sanctions for its violation should be enforced through the Rules of Procedure. "In Europe, sanctions are far tougher than here. In some countries, and also in the European Parliament, an MP can be excluded from proceedings for one day, or for ten or even 30 days," stated Rasi. He noted that the coalition had planned an amendment to the parliamentary rules of procedure even before the latest incident in parliament, but negotiations on its final form are still ongoing. If approved, several technical changes will be introduced, including an option to submit amending proposals electronically so that they wouldn't have to be read aloud in their entirety. "The question is how long the sponsor of a bill should be allowed to speak. I think 60 or 90 minutes is enough," said Rasi. When asked whether the coalition realises that by imposing limits on opposition obstruction, the same would apply to them if they end up in opposition in the future, Rasi said that the coalition parties do not intend to ban obstruction and that they even tolerated it to some extent during the most recent parliamentary session. "After all, we debated one law for two weeks. Obstruction was taking place through factual remarks and contributions to the debate, with everyone speaking about the same thing for hours," he said, adding that obstruction must be subject to certain limits. "Obstruction cannot bring the state to a halt. If we are not in government one day, we will certainly try to criticise it, but we must be aware that we can't paralyse a democratically elected government or Parliament," concluded Rasi. jrg