Thursday, June 24, 2010

Catholic church believes Slovak Parliament will support Vatican treaties

A spokesman for the Slovak Bishops’ Conference, Jozef Kováčik, has stated that all political parties said after the June 12 parliamentary elections that they have no problem fulfilling the international commitments between Slovakia and the Vatican.

"We are glad that the missing treaties with the Vatican will find broad political support in the new parliament," Kováčik told the SITA newswire on Wednesday, June 23.

Slovakia signed a series if treaties with the Vatican beginning in 2000 which oblige the country to codify certain treaty principles, such as a doctor’s right to refuse to perform abortions, in national law.

A dispute over the treaties led the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) to withdraw from the last centre-right government in 2006.

However, the four centre-right parties – the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), the KDH and Most-Híd – that intend to form the next government decided during talks on Tuesday not to include legal adoption of the treaties among their governing priorities.

SIC: TSS