Slovak Prime Minister Fico Pushes for Constitutional Changes on Identity Issues

By Jan Lopatka

(Reuters) -Slovak leader Robert Fico is seeking to change the country's constitution and install what he calls "a dam against progressivism" by declaring that Slovakia has legal precedence on "national identity" issues, such as family and gender.

Critics of populist Prime Minister Fico, including some legal experts, fear the amendment will threaten Slovakia's commitments to European Union laws and international treaties.

Fico has taken an increasingly anti-liberal stance in rights issues, building on his pro-Russian and pro-Hungarian international policy position. He has promoted closer relations with Russia and China and criticised sanctions on Moscow and the EU's military aid for Ukraine.

The amendment states that only male and female will be recognised as genders, and that school curriculums must respect the constitution, including its cultural and ethical positions. It will also tighten adoption rules.

"The Slovak Republic maintains sovereignty above all in issues of national identity," the amendments say, in particular on cultural and ethical issues.

A report accompanying the bill states it is fully in line with EU law, including the issues of precedence of European law.

Some opposition lawmakers however, as well as a group of lawyers including five former judges of the constitutional court, warn it could have far-reaching consequences.

"The proposed amendment is contradictory to the commitments resulting from European Union law and international law and creates a legal basis to diverge from values of the European Union and the Council of Europe," the group said.

"The amendment would weaken or even preclude enforcement of international law and European Union law in Slovakia," it said, adding that it included vague language, creating legal uncertainty and room for extensive interpretation.

Fico's fractious leftist and nationalist coalition has a thin majority dependent on independents, but the amendment has won backing from the opposition conservative Christian Democrats as well as two members of the opposition Slovensko party.

This may be enough for the amendment to reach the required 90 votes in the 150-seat parliament when it comes before lawmakers in the next days.

"This is not a defence of identity or sovereignty, this is a conscious and deceitful act aimed at severing Slovakia from the system and structure of international protection of human rights," Amnesty International said in a statement.

"The proposal threatens all people in Slovakia, but above all the most vulnerable - children, women, the poor, who are exposed to discrimination or inequality based on age or gender identity."

Fico's government has accused liberal protesters of planning a coup, changed laws to tighten rules for non-governmental organisations, increased control over public broadcasters, and attacked independent media as foreign agents.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)