BRATISLAVA, March 22, (WEBNOVINY) — Outgoing Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska (SDKU-DS) considers any debate on finding some new procedure of electing the prosecutor general, as recently suggested by President Ivan Gasparovic, to be unnecessary and premature for the time being. According to Zitnanska, progress should finally be achieved in the case of legitimately elected new prosecutor general, whom the president still has not appointed. The minister went on to say that Jozef Centes was legitimately elected to the post of candidate for prosecutor general, while they have been waiting for eight months for the president to appoint him.
President Ivan Gasparovic told SITA on Monday that an alternative to eliminate impacts of political parties in the election of prosecutor general is a change in the election procedure. He suggested a new way of electing a candidate to the post, while restated his position on his hesitation to appoint Jozef Centes to the post. “I would rather not appoint a person prosecutor general, regardless of their name, who was elected in a corrupt environment of the parliament,” the president said.
Any discussions on seeking a new candidate or candidates are nothing but confirmation of SMER-SD’s pre-election statements, which the president supports, too, that there is no interest in appointing the legitimately elected candidate for general prosecutor and “for some reason they very much care about preserving the current situation in prosecution service,” Justice Minister Zitnanska said.
According to the SME daily, SMER-SD Chairman Robert Fico no longer wants to discuss the new prosecutor general with the opposition, as he said before the elections. He plans to discuss the issue with the president. The daily recently wrote that Fico would turn to the president if the Constitutional Court decides that Ivan Gasparovic is not obliged to appoint the prosecutor general-elect Jozef Centes. SME cited Robert Fico’s idea that a council of prosecutors should offer a candidate for new prosecutor general. President Gasparovic presented a similar idea this Monday.
Parliament elected Jozef Centes to be the candidate for prosecutor general on June 17, 2011. President Ivan Gasparovic has thus far refused to appoint him to the post. Centes had lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court over violation of rights by the president’s inactivity. According to latest statements of President Ivan Gasparovic regarding the issue, he will not appoint Jozef Centes because he does not trust him. In February, parliamentary caucuses of the former coalition (KDH, SaS, MOST-HID and SDKU-DS) agreed that their MPs would turn to the Constitutional Court in the matter of appointing the prosecutor general. They want the Constitutional Court to state that the head of state is obliged to decide on the candidate elected by parliament without undue delay.
SITA