Parliament Passes Media Legislation, Opposition Threatens To Block EU Treaty

The Slovak parliament passed a contentious new media law Wednesday — sparking a threat by opposition parties to block major EU reform.

The law was passed by 81 votes to 62 in the 150-seat legislature despite complaints by the Slovak opposition that the move would limit press freedoms.

Opposition parties threatened to respond by blocking the ratification of a new EU treaty, which needs to be passed by all member states for it to come into force.

It said the new media law would give readers, state institutions or politicians excessive rights of reply, even if critical articles about them were true.

Europe’s largest security organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the bill would “severely restrict” the freedom of the press and had asked the Parliament to withdraw it.

The government responded by removing a contentious provision, which would have allowed it to decide if a report broke the law and impose fines of up to 200,000 koruna (€6,175; US$9,710), but pressed on with the vote.

In protest at the legislation, Slovak opposition lawmakers walked out of Parliament three times when votes on the new EU treaty were scheduled.

The government coalition is five votes short of the 90 necessary for the EU treaty to be ratified in the parliament.

The treaty, a stripped-down version of the European Constitution that collapsed when France and the Netherlands rejected it, is meant to streamline the way the European Union operates

It was not clear Wednesday when the parliament could vote on the treaty.

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