Council of Europe blasts Slovakia over new broadcasting and NGO laws

Slovakia’s new draft law reforming public broadcaster RTVS and a new draft law on NGOs raise concerns, according to Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights. This prompts Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Peter Kmec to pledge his government will look into revising the proposed legislation.

O’Flaherty warned the Slovak National Council in a letter published on Tuesday that the two bills, both currently in their second reading in parliament, may not be compatible with human rights standards.

On the proposed reform of RTVS that aims to strengthen governmental control over the broadcaster, the Council of Europe official urged the Slovak National Council to “give close consideration to concerns that elements of the bill may undermine safeguards for the operational and editorial independence of the public service broadcaster”, highlighting the importance of having legislative frameworks that ensure public service media is independent of government control.

Commenting on the new NGO bill, which introduces the labelling of “organisations with foreign support” if they receive more than €5,000 a year in foreign funding, O’Flaherty urged Slovak MPs not to pass the bill in its current form.

O’Flaherty also pointed out that the proposed sanctions for failure to comply with new annual reporting requirements, including the dissolution of an organisation, “appear to lack appropriate procedural safeguards and to fail to sufficiently meet the requirements of necessity and proportionality.”

He further expressed concern that the registration and labelling of “organisations with foreign support” will create “a chilling effect for civil society in the Slovak Republic”.

Labelling will be removed

Two members of the ruling Hlas party have already announced that the controversial law on NGOs will be amended, similar to one the Georgian government is trying to impose.

Slovakia’s deputy prime minister Kmec, who is responsible for the economic recovery plan, confirmed this on Monday.

He also noted that the new law takes into account the EU’s concerns about Hungary’s previous legislation in 2017. In 2017, the EU Court of Justice ruled that the legislation was incompatible with EU law because it conflicted with the right to free movement of capital between member states, ultimately forcing Budapest to withdraw the legislation.

“Truth be told, I am not happy with this legal initiative either,” Kmec said when asked about the law at an event organised by the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).

“The Hlas party rejects this. A new draft is being prepared by the Interior Ministry. Our commitment to EC Vice-President Věra Jourová was that any new legislation would reflect on the findings regarding the Hungarian precedent,” he added, alluding to Jourová’s visit to Bratislava in April.

Changes to the law were also announced by Hlas MP Samuel Migaľ on TA3 television on 6 May.

“A new law is being prepared, and I can confirm that we propose to drop the controversial labelling of NGOs. After an agreement with the coalition partners, the financial limits based on which the organisations would have to issue annual reports could also be resolved,” said Migaľ.

A source told Euractiv Slovakia that the new draft should also remove the Ministry of the Interior’s authority to abolish the organisation.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)

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