President of Slovakia: The referendum on the annulment of EU sanctions against Russia cannot be announced

Bratislava – The referendum on sanctions against Russia cannot be declared. President of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini informed about this at a press conference on Wednesday, TASR reports.

“The Constitution of the Slovak Republic imposes on the president the responsibility for the constitutionality and legality of declaring a referendum; however, if the president finds that any of the prescribed constitutional and legal conditions for conducting a referendum have not been met, he cannot declare it, and this is also an example of the petition I have been assessing in recent weeks. Therefore, I repeat, the requested referendum simply cannot be declared,” Pellegrini emphasized.

In the requested question “Do you agree that the Slovak Republic should not impose sanctions against the Russian Federation that harm Slovak citizens, entrepreneurs, and businesses?” he sees three ambiguities. According to Pellegrini, it is not clear what is meant by the term Slovak Republic, whether it refers to state authorities, the business sector, municipalities, regions, or citizens. He claims that the wording of this part of the question does not provide a sufficient answer as to who is or is not the executing entity, and thus does not comply with the constitution. Another ambiguity is the phrase “sanctions against the Russian Federation.” The president does not know whether it refers to Russian state authorities or its citizens. It is also unclear how to deal with sanctions against individuals and companies from third countries that have ended up on sanction lists for their support of Russia but are not subject to its jurisdiction. Therefore, this phrase also violates the article of the constitution, according to the head of state.

The third part of the question vaguely states who and on what basis can clearly determine which sanctions harm Slovak citizens, entrepreneurs, and businesses, and which authority and under what law should assess this.

“Since there is no norm based on which the harmfulness of sanctions could be assessed, such a law would simply be unenforceable,” Pellegrini pointed out. He added that the question does not clarify whether it should be a decision only for the future or whether it should also concern the current sanctions, for which Slovakia has already voted 17 times.

According to Pellegrini, the result of any proposal to declare a referendum must be a binding legal norm that clearly and unambiguously regulates a certain area of social relations. “It must therefore be formulated in such a way that it is clear, certain, and predictable. It must be unambiguous so that its potential addressees cannot interpret it arbitrarily. The proposal I reviewed is neither unambiguous, nor certain, nor predictable, and thus would be unenforceable in practice,” the president stated.

In making his decision, he also consulted several state authorities that would be responsible for its implementation in the event of a declared referendum and a successful outcome. He noted that the responses from the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs raise serious doubts about whether a potentially valid result of the referendum would be enforceable.

Pellegrini explained that sanctions against Russia and against citizens or companies that support aggression in Ukraine are adopted by the European Union. All member countries unanimously approve them and they are repeatedly approved every six months. Slovakia is represented at summits by Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD).

The referendum is declared by the President of the Slovak Republic if at least 350,000 citizens request it by petition. The constitution states that the results of the referendum are valid if more than half of the eligible voters participate and if the decision is adopted by a majority of the participants in the referendum. (June 4)