BRATISLAVA: Slovakia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that critics say will curb protections for whistleblowers, the latest move drawing rule-of-law concerns since nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s return to power in 2023.
It comes after parliament last year adopted controversial penal code reforms, including easing the penalties for corruption and economic offenses in the European Union and NATO member.
Since his return to power, Fico has faced a series of protests over his curbing of rights in the country of 5.4 million people.
Parliament passed the new law, which abolishes the office in charge of protecting whistleblowers and creates another body that will be placed under government authority, with 78 votes in favor and 57 against.
The law, which foresees that the government will nominate the chair of the new body, will take effect from January 1, 2026.
Parliament will be tasked with electing the chair.
The law states that “protections granted so far may be retroactively withdrawn... from whistleblowers,” adding that protections may also “be permanently re?evaluated, including at the initiative of the employer.”
Jan Horecky, a lawmaker from the Christian Democratic KDH party, denounced the abolition of the “last... independent institution dedicated to fighting corruption” in the country.
In recent weeks, Slovak NGOs have protested against the government plans to abolish the office, with a few hundred people rallying in front of the parliament building after lawmakers passed the law in the first reading.
The opposition SaS party has called a new protest for Thursday.
Transparency International Slovakia in late November accused Fico of “dismantling even the little he himself offered in the fight against corruption,” while the NGO Stop Corruption said whistleblower protection risks being turned into “a scrap of paper that will protect no one.”
Slovakia’s rank in Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index dropped several places last year, with the country ranking among the most corrupt in the EU last year.
Critics say about 100 people who have blown the whistle on corruption stand to lose protection.
Fico has drawn a series of protests, including over tightening his grip on public broadcaster RTVS and media outlets he deems “hostile” and replacing leading figures in the country’s cultural institutions.
Brussels launched legal action against Slovakia over changes to the country’s constitution that see national law take precedence over EU law.
Slovak parliament passes law to abolish whistleblower protection office
https://arab.news/gpnpt
Slovak parliament passes law to abolish whistleblower protection office
- The new law abolishes the office in charge of protecting whistleblowers and creates another body
- Fico has faced a series of protests over his curbing of rights in the country
Trump says no talks with Iran until ‘unconditional surrender’
- Earlier Trump demanded right to help name new Iranian leader
- Iran’s president says countries have begun mediation efforts
BEIRUT/WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Friday, a dramatic escalation of his demands a week into the war he launched alongside Israel.
Trump made the remarks on social media just hours after Iran’s president announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts in one of the first signals of any diplomatic initiative to end the conflict.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
On Thursday Trump had told Reuters in a telephone interview that he was demanding the right to help select Iran’s new supreme leader, to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the war’s first day.
Israel pounded the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the entire southern suburbs of the city, in a major expansion of the war.
It also launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had struck a bunker beneath the destroyed Tehran compound of Khamenei, still being used by Iran’s leadership after he was killed.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X: “Some countries have begun mediation efforts.” He did not identify the countries or provide further details.
“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we have not the slightest hesitation in defending the dignity and authority of our country. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” he added.
Under Iran’s system, the president is subordinate to the supreme leader, but Pezeshkian is now serving on a panel that has assumed Khamenei’s duties.
