Opposition Slams Plan to Legislate 'State of Threat'

Bratislava, 10 March (TASR) – The opposition criticised plans to legislatively introduce the concept of a 'state of threat', with the parties Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), the 'Slovakia' party and the extra-parliamentary Democrats considering it dangerous that the government could decide to declare such a state and deploy the Armed Forces in Slovakia if the country were threatened by anything. According to the opposition parties, the current legal frameworks are sufficient. They responded this way to Tuesday's statements by President Peter Pellegrini. Any change would require an amendment to the Slovak Constitution. "It is astonishing that the government is inventing a new system for protecting the country's security when legal tools already exist today. For example, we have the institution of armed forces assistance services, which was used during the pandemic and can also be used today," said SaS MP Juraj Krupa. He also considers it unclear how the new regime would work in practice. "Let us imagine a situation in which Slovakia is genuinely threatened by an attack, for example by a drone. Under this model, the government would first have to convene, declare a state of threat and only then could the armed forces act. That is completely unrealistic," he said. MP Gabor Grendel ('Slovakia'–For the People) also considers the step extremely irresponsible. "They know very well that the current legal frameworks are sufficient," he added. He also sees the plan in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections. According to the leader of the extra-parliamentary Democrats and former defence minister (2020-23) Jaroslav Nad, introducing the concept of a state of threat could seriously endanger the country's internal security. He claims the government could thus deploy the Slovak Armed Forces against its own citizens on Slovak soil even over a threat it invents itself. The president, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) and Chief of the General Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces Daniel Zmeko agreed that Slovakia needs to legislatively introduce the concept of a state of threat, which would allow the government to use the capacities of the armed forces even in peacetime if the country were threatened by anything. The president also pointed out that such a change would require an amendment to the Slovak Constitution, meaning agreement across the political spectrum. mf