BRATISLAVA, November 16, (WEBNOVINY) — The parliament will be able to debate the proposal to freeze salaries of constitutional representatives in an expedited procedure. On Wednesday, the Cabinet of Iveta Radicova gave the go-ahead to the suggested fast-track proceedings, agreed-upon by Parliament Speaker Pavol Hrusovsky (KDH) and Prime Minister Iveta Radicova (SDKU-DS). If the revision of the law on salaried of certain constitutional officials is enacted, then salaries of MPs, Cabinet members, the head of state, the chairperson of the Supreme Audit Office and his/her deputy, the prosecutor general, the ombudsman, chiefs of central state administration authorities and public servants will remain at this year’s level also in 2012.
The authors of the amendment argue with the need to save funds in 2012. The salary freeze will not affect judges, prosecutors and public servants whose wages are bound to salaries of lawmakers. In the past, the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic ruled that salaries of judges cannot be reduced in this way. The parliament will have the final say on the matter in December.
Hrusovsky and Radicova agreed to put the proposal through expedited proceedings because there will be only one last regular session of the parliament this year and MPs would not manage to approve the law in standard procedure by January 1, 2012, when the salaries are supposed to rise significantly according to currently valid rules.
SITA