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Meciar Might Not Take Origin of Property Act to Constitutional Court
Sunday 24 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, January 24 (TASR) - If Parliament passes an Act on Disclosing the Origin of Property that contradicts the Constitution and human rights again, I would consider not filing the Act with the Constitutional Court a second time, said LS-HZDS Chairman Vladimir Meciar on Slovak Television's (STV) politics show 'O 5 Minut 12' (5 Minutes to 12) on Sunday.
"I'll be rather gleeful. I've already established that human rights are being violated by this Act and all that everyone said in response was that this is only about my house. So that makes me wonder whether I shouldn't actually do some people a favour, step aside and not file with the Constitutional Court anymore, letting this thing come into effect. If people think that I don't care about them, then I'll step aside. I don't have any problem with that - and let others suffer when they see where legislation of this kind will take us," said Meciar.
The constitutional amendment, according to Meciar, comes in a form that violates human rights and the Constitution. "We'll become the laughing stock of the whole of Europe once again," he said about a proposal that in his opinion will empower the state to confiscate suspect property without any proof that it was acquired illegally. Meciar thinks that both a proposal from Premier Robert Fico as well as an almost identical one drawn up by KDH vice-chair Daniel Lipsic are fundamentally wrong.
SDKU-DS chairman Mikulas Dzurinda regards the premier's proposal as "camouflage" - just like his attempts to restrict parliamentary immunity. "If Fico had a bona fide interest in this, we would have been having discussions for six months now," he said. [The premier can gain the majority of 90 votes needed to pass a Constitutional Act only with the support of opposition MPs - ed. note].
"I want you to retire from politics, so that Slovakia can be a decent country. I want you to be forced to disclose where you got the money from to build that pueblo in Trencianske Teplice (Trencin region)," Dzurinda told Meciar.
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