An EU Parliament Monitoring Delegation expressed concern over the equal rights situation in Slovakia regarding LGBTQI+ and Roma communities and called on the government to step up its efforts in recognising their rights.
The monitoring group for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, led by MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld visited Bratislava on the day the government of Prime Minister Eduard Heger lost a vote of no-confidence in the National Council on Friday.
Among its appeals to the government, the group called on the executive to intensify its efforts to improve the legal recognition of same-sex couples and their children.
At the same time, it asked the government to urgently adopt other related legal reforms, including adequate health care procedures for transgender people.
In Slovakia, however, only 31% of people agree that LGBTQI+ people should have the same rights as heterosexual people, meaning Slovakia ranks lowest among EU countries, according to public opinion polls, despite the recent double murder in front of a queer bar in the centre of Bratislava.
“Even after almost thirty years of the existence of the Slovak Republic, we act as if LGBTQI+ people do not exist in our country. It’s not only cowardly, it’s wrong,” said delegation member and Slovak MEP Vladimír Bilčík (EPP).
After several meetings with country representatives and civil society, the EU Parliament’s delegation stated that in the future, it will “closely monitor all relevant developments in Slovakia, including ongoing reforms in the field of the judiciary, the use of the powers of the Prosecutor General, or the cancellation of charges against high-ranking persons”.
Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka has already made it known that he sees the delegation’s statements as “exclusively political”.
(Lucia Yar | EURACTIV.sk)
Source: euractiv.com
