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Bratislava – The first year in government can be called the year of returning to the rule of law. This was stated by the Minister of Justice of the Slovak Republic, Boris Susko (Smer-SD), at a press conference on Tuesday. According to him, the Ministry of Justice managed to fulfill a significant part of the government’s program statement in a year, with the steps taken meeting the standards and trends in criminal policy of the most developed countries of the European Union. This is reported by TASR.
Susko recalled that one of the key priorities of the Ministry of Justice in recent months was the recodification of criminal codes. According to him, it resulted in a modern legal framework that corresponds to European standards and current trends in criminal policy of the most developed countries of the European Union.
In July of this year, Minister Susko criticized the report of the European Commission (EC) on the state of the rule of law in the member states of the European Union, stating that the report relating to Slovakia “does not reflect the true reality” and added that he considers it “methodologically incorrectly processed, unbalanced, and in some parts even misleading.” He clarified that the European Commission, in this report, did not take into account the changes that directly responded to previous criticism, such as strengthening the protection of judges or extending the jurisdiction of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) or expanding tools in cases of investigating crimes harming the EU’s financial interests.
On Tuesday, he emphasized that his ministry also had to respond, according to him, to the high capacity of prisons. “In the Slovak Republic, we had the second-highest share of incarcerated persons among the countries of Europe,” he said, adding that the amendment of criminal codes changes the setting of criminal policy in Slovakia. “We have created better conditions for the individualization of punishment for convicted offenders, unlike previous criminal codes. The current philosophy of the Penal Code places emphasis on their re-education so that they can reintegrate into society again after serving their sentence,” he described the situation.
The Minister also highlighted the increase in the financial penalty from 331,000 euros to 3,000,000 euros. According to Susko, they increased the damage threshold to reflect the economic development since 2005. He stressed that as a result of this change, penal liability ceased only for some offenders, not for thousands of people. Citing police statistics, Susko clarified that property crime did not increase in the first nine months of this year.
The ministry also focused on strengthening restorative and alternative justice and is finalizing the concept of probation and mediation service. It is cooperating in preparing a draft amendment to the offense law, which is currently in parliament, to allow a penalty for an offense, besides financial, in the form of minor municipal services.
The Ministry is also working on a list of additional providers of alternative sentences. From January 2025, mediation and probation officers are to receive increased financial remuneration to stabilize judicial personnel. From next year, according to Susko, judicial workers are to receive an average increase in financial remuneration of approximately 400 euros. (October 29).