PS to Submit Amendment to Strategic Investments Act

Bratislava, February 28 (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party plans to submit a bill to amend the Strategic Investments Act at the March session of Parliament and has called on Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (SNS nominee) and coalition politicians to support it, MPs Tamara Stohlova and Michal Sabo (both PS) stated at a press conference on Friday. The legislators pointed out that the current legislation must be changed, as its shortcomings came to light recently in the case of an incinerator facility in Hontianske Tesare. PS wants to prevent similar situations from reoccurring. "With our bill, we'd like to preserve the important fundamental principle of speeding up proceedings and prioritizing really crucial investments, but also to fix it," said Stohlova. The party also wants to amend the definition of a strategic investment in such a way that it would enable only public entities to be designated as strategic investors. In addition, PS wants to prevent unconstitutional meddling in people's ownership rights, particularly when it is because individuals are unable to appeal against certain decisions. Furthermore, it should be mandatory for the efficiency of how money is spent to be assessed again by the Value for Money Department. Sabo criticised Voice-SD for its late response to the Hontianske Tesare case. "It took more than a week for anyone from the Voice-SD party to speak up, and only after we urged it to respond," he claimed. PS also called on Taraba to stop the process of designating the Malinec hydroelectric power plant project a strategic investment. mf/df