Pellegrini Urges European Parliament's Delegation to Leave Slovakia

Bratislava, September 22 (TASR) - Opposition's Voice-SD leader Peter Pellegrini lambasted the approach shown by the Democracy, Rule of Law, Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group (DRFMG), formed by the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberty, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee), during its visit to Slovakia, taking objection to the fact that its members met only with coalition representatives and not the opposition. Speaking on Wednesday, Pellegrini claimed that the DRFMG group has adopted a tendentious approach and called upon the group to leave Slovakia and stop issuing biased statements. "It (the group) doesn't plan to meet and hasn't met with any relevant opposition parties, which I consider to be an absolute mistake. Therefore, I believe that any conclusions of this mission will be irrelevant and one-sided," declared Pellegrini and recommended "the Dutch MEP [group chair Sophie in 't Veld-ed.note] and her cronies" to "pack up their bags" and fly back to Brussels. "They are continuing to visit Slovakia in a purpose-built way, the same way they did in the past," stated Pellegrini and called on the European Parliament's mission to refrain from releasing any evaluating reports on Slovakia. Pellegrini finds it unacceptable for any such foreign group to come to Slovakia and meet only a limited circle of individuals selectively and release reports based on nothing but such meetings. He rejects what he sees as the twisting of Slovakia's image. The Voice-SD leader asked whether the group also inquired about the current situation in Slovak law enforcement. "Based on whom they met, they can hardly expect to receive any answers," he claimed, adding that the mission constituted a misuse of MEPs' powers. A delegation of MEPs from the European Parliament's Civic Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), chaired by MEP Sophie in 't Veld, has been on a visit to Slovakia since Tuesday (September 21) to monitor the compliance with the principles of the rule of law in Slovakia. The group voiced its full support to interim police chief Stefan Hamran, as well as investigators and prosecutors. During its two-day stay, the delegation met with the families of murdered journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, representatives of civic society, journalists and many senior state officials. mf/mcs