Parliament Discusses Vote of Confidence in Government, Debate Cut to 12.5 Hours

Bratislava, 18 June (TASR) - After approving the agenda for its extraordinary session on Thursday, Parliament began debating a request for a vote of confidence in the government due to the high level of public debt, which has reached the highest sanction band under the constitutional law on budgetary responsibility. The debate on Thursday will proceed without a lunch break until the issue is fully discussed, even past 7.00 p.m. if necessary, with the vote to follow immediately afterwards. Based on a proposal from three coalition caucuses, the debate has been limited to 12.5 hours, while the coalition expects to be backed by its 78 MPs in Parliament. The government has been required to seek a vote of confidence since October of last year, when its two-year exemption from the strictest debt brake sanctions expired. The debt has remained in the highest sanction band for some time, and European statistics office Eurostat reported in October of last year that Slovakia's public debt had reached 59.7 percent of GDP. However, as the government failed to submit a request to Parliament, a group of opposition MPs asked the Constitutional Court to provide its interpretation of the relevant provisions of the constitutional law on budgetary responsibility. On Wednesday (17 June), the Constitutional Court ruled that the government must ask Parliament for a vote of confidence immediately after it is found that the public debt threshold set in the constitutional law has been exceeded. According to the court, the phrase "without undue delay" means that "the government must take immediate and active steps to submit the request, taking into account the necessary procedure that the government is obliged to follow, without elements of unjustified inaction". Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said that he respects the Constitutional Court's ruling and conceded that the government is aware of this obligation. However, he said that he originally planned to submit such a request when Parliament discusses and votes on the state budget. In response to the Constitutional Court's ruling, the government approved a draft request for a vote of confidence on Wednesday evening. jrg/df