Constitutional Court Okays Extended Emergency State as Lawful

Kosice/Bratislava, March 31 (TASR) – The decision of the Government to extend the state of emergency by an additional 40 days and its measures approved on March 17 are in accordance with the Slovak Constitution, the Constitutional Court decided on Wednesday.

The decision to extend the state of emergency was challenged in the Constitutional Court by the opposition Smer-SD party and some specific provisions and measures in it also by Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka.

According to the Constitutional Court, there is the present risk of the coronavirus pandemic, which puts lives and public health into danger. “Because of this, the Constitutional Court is of the opinion that there have been substantiated circumstances for the Government to pass the disputed resolution and also the appropriate legal basis, stemming from the State Security Act,” said judge Martin Vernarsky.

As for the complaint lodged by Prosecutor-General Zilinka against the mandatory across-the-board antigen testing and the ban on traveling abroad for recreational purposes, the Constitutional Court confirmed that the measures are constitutional, indeed. “The Constitutional Court reached a conclusion, according to which the only exclusive criterion for assessing the restriction of basic rights and freedoms during the state of emergency is their exigency with respect to the seriousness of the threat we’re facing and this criterion has been met by the measures implemented,” claimed Vernarsky.