The session of the Parliamentary Mandate and Immunity Committee from 1 June failed to establish a quorum to decide on whether nationalist SNS chairman Jan Slota would have to apologise for the insulting statements he made about independent MP František Mikloško. The session lacked 11 of the 16 members and so Slota will probably go unpunished for his rhetoric once again.
In addition to deciding on the apology, the committee session was to consider imposing a fine of €166 on Slota. Apart from chairwoman Renáta Zmajkovičová (Smer), only four more members showed up (all opposition MPs); ethnic-Hungarian SMK MPs Gyula Bárdos and Klára Sárközy, Katarina Cibulková from SDKÚ and Martin Fronc from KDH.
Zmajkovičová decided not to convene another session during this electoral term, as the general elections were just around the corner, and so Slota has probably escaped any repercussions because old cases are not carried over to the next term. Slota sent the committee a letter with his explanation, which Fronc said was hardly an apology. The disciplinary proceedings against Slota were initiated in April, when in a heated parliamentary debate Slota referred to Mikloško as “the son of the devil” and as “mentally retarded”.
Some say Jan Slota has a reputation in Slovakia for his verbal onslaughts, and maybe such an absence of ‘procedure’ will encourage him also in future to express his mind without restraint.