Slovakia's top court pauses government overhaul of whistleblower agency

Dec ‌17 (Reuters) - Slovakia's Constitutional Court suspended the government's planned ‍overhaul ‌of a whistleblower agency on Wednesday after protests from ⁠opposition politicians, stopping ‌any action until it can review the law further, it said. 

The ruling does not mean the law is unconstitutional ⁠but is likely to delay implementation of the legal changes, which ​were fast-tracked through parliament this month ‌despite criticism from opponents and ⁠the office itself, as well as reservations from the European Union executive. 

The EU's executive, the European Commission, ​said last week it regretted that parliament did not allow for thorough consultation after the Commission previously voiced "strong concerns" about the law.

The opposition says ​the ‍whistleblower bill is "revenge" after ​the Whistleblower Protection Office (UOO) fined the Interior Ministry in cases involving police officers who were reassigned during corruption investigations without the office's consent.

Four-time Prime Minister Robert Fico's leftist-nationalist government, in office since 2023, had ⁠previously weakened criminal codes for financial offences, revamped the public broadcaster and ​pursued constitutional changes asserting national sovereignty over certain EU laws.

The government argues that the UOO was politically abused in the past, the ‌same reasoning Fico used for his legislative changes.

(Reporting by Barbara Erling and Jason Hovet, editing by Ed Osmond)