Susko: European Commission Fails to Grasp Changes in Slovakia

Bratislava, August 21 (TASR) - The European Commission (EC) fails to understand the changes that the Slovak government has introduced into the legal system and that its criticism also applies to previous governments, Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) declared on Wednesday in his response to the EC's Report on the Rule of Law in Slovakia. The official response to the report was approved by the government on Wednesday afternoon. "It's regrettable that the EC failed to reflect on any positive changes carried out by the government and, on the contrary, uncritically accepted information that particularly denigrates changes implemented after the October election," stated Susko, adding that the Slovak government was denied adequate opportunity to explain the reservations raised in the report by the EC. The minister believes that the EC mainly used information from Slovak media that are "against this government" in its report and failed to take into account the stances of academic institutions and the opinions of lawyers and courts. Susko also rejects criticism over the scrapping of the Special Prosecutor's Office and underlined that the structuring of the judiciary, including its prosecution service, falls fully under the remit of member states. He pointed out that the Constitutional Court didn't state in its verdict that the dissolution of the Special Prosecutor's Office was in breach of the Constitution. In addition, Susko criticised the EC report for what he sees as severe methodological shortcomings. mf/df