MP Marian Kvasnicka from KDH and former Bratislava mayor Andrej Durkovsky (who had to leave his beloved KDH party over corruption allegations) have prepared a proposed amendment to the Constitution that will give MPs the option to surrender their MP immunity voluntarily.
The amendment would allow MPs to decide for themselves whether or not to keep the luxurious privilege of being immune to prosecution and so become mere mortals, being left with immunity only for what goes on in parliament. At present MPs cannot be prosecuted for crimes or even taken into custody, unless parliament votes for it.
The scope of immunity enjoyed by our lawmakers has seen more than one of them totally inebriated behind the wheel of their car, for instance. If stopped by the police, they don’t even have to get out of the car if they don’t want to.
The only way to prosecute an MP for some crime is to firstly get parliament to rid him/her of immunity and then initiate criminal proceedings. The latest proposal should be discussed in parliament in September.