House Changes After-service Pension Rules for Prosecutor-General

Bratislava, March 27 (TASR) - Parliament passed a legislation on Thursday to change rules under which prosecutors receive their severance pay and after-service pension, with the prosecutor-general now eligible for a special after-service pension after completing four years out of the seven-year tenure, provided he or she served as prosecutor for at least 20 years. The prosecutor-general could thus resign after four years of service and will then receive an after-service pension equalling basic salary of the Prosecutor-General's Office prosecutor. The amendment is slated to come into effect as of June 1. This doesn't sit well with opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) party. "The coalition pushed through Parliament a bill that will grant Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka a lifelong annuity of about €5,000 monthly. He can claim such an absurdly generous annuity as early as after mere four years into his tenure," said MP Branislav Vanco (PS), who believes that the coalition is "buying" Zilinka this way [Zilinka was elected the Prosecutor-General in 2020 -ed.note]. "If Zilinka were to step down from his post of the Prosecutor-General tomorrow, for instance, he will start receiving a monthly sum that the majority of Slovaks can only dream about. If he were to live to an average age, all of us will chip in for his reward worth up to one million euros," added Vanco. MP Veronika Remisova (Slovakia-For the People-KU) finds it unacceptable for the citizens to jointly contribute to Zilinka's lifelong annuity and pointed out that the change was approved at the times of consolidation, when the Government "has raised taxes for the people, taken thousands of euros away from families in tax bonuses, taken parental pensions from pensioners and imposed new taxes on businesses". She also called on Zilinka to announce to the public whether he plans to complete his entire tenure or wishes to resign prematurely. mf