In Slovakia, tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against a planned criminal justice reform, which includes easing penalties for corruption and has also drawn criticism from the European Union. According to police, around 26,000 people took to the streets in the capital Bratislava on Thursday.
The demonstrators carried signs with slogans such as ‘Don’t touch our democracy!’ and ‘We will not be silent’. There were also meetings in more than twenty other cities in neighboring Austria.
Controversial reform
As part of the reform, the government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has been in power since October, wants to abolish a special prosecutor’s office that deals with high-profile corruption cases and organized crime. In addition, penalties for corruption and economic crimes should be reduced and protection for police whistleblowers should be abolished.
Parliament must approve the reform through an accelerated legislative process. At the end of last year there were already demonstrations against the plans in Slovakia.
Criticism from Brussels
At the beginning of December, the European Commission asked the government to suspend the plans and abandon an accelerated legislative procedure.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EUSTA) in Luxembourg criticized the reform plans in the EU member state as “a serious risk of violation of the rule of law”. The EU Parliament recently condemned the reform project in a resolution on Wednesday.
Source: Krone
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