In the Slovakia Thousands of people are against the Prime Minister’s government Robert Fico demonstrated. The trigger was the planned abolition of the authority to protect whistleblowers as well as a number of other legislative changes in Parliament. In Bratislava, the demonstrators demanded Prime Minister Robert Fico to resign.
There were also protests in nine other cities. As at the rallies of previous months, people there waved European, Ukrainian and Slovakian flags. Many sang the Slovak national anthem. Posters read: “Enough of Fico” or “Fico’s government is helping the mafia.” Several opposition parties called for the protest.
Previously, the Slovakian parliament had a narrow majority Law abolishing the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers approvedwhich provide information about misconduct, illegal practices or grievances in authorities and elsewhere. Parliament President Peter Pellegrini had previously vetoed the measure. According to critics, the restructuring of the protection office for Whistleblowers that promote corruption.
Opposition criticizes the promotion of crime
The law is one of a number of projects that Prime Minister Fico’s three-party coalition pushed through with a narrow majority in parliament last week. This also involved changes in the legal system. If suspects cooperate with criminal investigators in order to get away with a lighter sentence, evidence they collect may no longer be used in the future if the person in question has lied in another case.
The opposition accuses Fico of wanting to protect his ally Tibor Gašpar. The Vice-President of Parliament should be brought to justice for founding a criminal organization. “Slovakia is the only country where the government passes laws that make life easier for criminals and the mafia,” said opposition politician Michal Šimečka from the Progressive Party Slovakia (PS).
Slovakia bans criticism of nationalist Benes decrees
Behind another newly enacted criminal offense, namely criticism of the so-called Benes decreesthe PS suspects targeted persecution of its leaders. With the Benes decrees, the Czechoslovakian post-war government had the effect of expropriating and expelling the German and Hungarian minorities. The Fico government compares criticism of the regulations to Holocaust denial. She wants to punish such criticism with a six-month prison sentence in the future. The Hungarian minority in particular has been protesting against this in the past few days.
Fico has long been considered a polarizing figure in Slovak politics. It happens again and again Mass demonstrations against his policies. Fico has all of Slovakia’s military support for the Ukraine set. Critics accuse him of following the Russia-friendly course of Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with his government. László Gubík, leader of the Hungarian Alliance party, which represents the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, also took part in the recent protests.
