The Slovakian government recently delivered more than a dozen fighter jets to Ukraine. The opposition believes they have exceeded their powers and bypassed Parliament.
Slovakia’s main opposition party has filed a criminal complaint because it considers the handing over of warplanes to Ukraine to be unconstitutional.
The conservative-populist government of Prime Minister Eduard Heger decided on March 17 to hand over 13 Soviet MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine. On March 23, the first four of these planes were flown by Ukrainian pilots into Russia-attacked Ukraine.
Criminal charges of abuse of office and sabotage
Heger’s minority government was overthrown by a vote of no confidence in December. Since then she has only served on an acting basis. Therefore, according to the constitution, they do not have the competence to make such fundamental foreign policy and military decisions, explained Robert Fico, head of the party “Direction – Slovak Social Democracy” (Smer-SD) in an interview published on Tuesday with the daily newspaper “Pravda”. As early as Monday evening, Smer party spokesman Jan Mazgut informed the state news agency TASR about the criminal charges for abuse of office and sabotage.
Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad and Prime Minister Heger originally announced that they would not decide without a parliamentary vote. The government could have gotten a simple majority for the aircraft delivery with the help of parts of the opposition. But what it would have needed was a constitutional majority (three-fifths in Slovakia) granting it that power.
She could conclude such a contract without involving Parliament, explained Nad. He referred to a legal analysis that the government had but could not publish.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
