Zilinka: Constitutional Court Should Declare UOO Law Unconstitutional

       Bratislava, 9 February (TASR) - Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka on Monday submitted his opinion to the Constitutional Court, proposing that the law on the transformation of the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) should be declared unconstitutional, TASR reported on the basis of information published by Zilinka on a social network on Monday.
        "Today, I submitted my opinion to the Constitutional Court with regard to a motion by a group of MPs to initiate proceedings on compliance of the law on the Office for the Protection of Victims of Criminal Offences and Whistleblowers of Anti-Social Activity," stated Zilinka.
        Zilinka proposed that the Constitutional Court should uphold the motion and declare that the use of a fast-track legislative procedure for adopting the law, as well as UOO's transformation into a new authority have resulted in several violations of the Constitution, as have terminating the posts of senior officials and changing the status of protected whistleblowers.
        In December of last year, the Constitutional Court suspended the effect of the law and accepted the opposition's motion for further proceedings in full.
        The opposition MPs argued that the law may be at odds with the Slovak Constitution and EU law, and they criticised how it was adopted via a fast-tracked legislative procedure. Among other things, they pointed to the shortening of the term of office of the duly elected UOO chairperson and to changes related to the granting and review of whistleblower protection. The motion submitted to the Constitutional Court was also supported by ombudsman Robert Dobrovodsky.
         The European Commission (EC) announced at the end of January that it has launched an infringement procedure against Slovakia in connection with the adoption of the law.
        According to the new law, the agenda of compensation for the victims of crimes, which currently falls under the Justice Ministry, will be taken over by a new office on top of the whistleblower agenda. Another new element is the possibility to review granted protection within criminal and administrative proceedings.