Drobečková navigace

Constitutional Act no. 28/1968 Coll., amending art. 91 of the Constitution

Also the second constitutional amendment adopted in 1961 dealt with art. 91 of the Constitution which enumerated the structure of National Committees. In this case, the Constitutional Act changed the status of Bratislava. Until then, there had been a district National Committee in Bratislava, which had been subordinated to the Western-Slovakia Regional National Committee. The amendment proposed the establishment of the National Committee of Bratislava and of other district national committees and to leave the more detailed terms to be regulated by an Act of the Slovak National Council. The parliamentary documents and minister of the Interior Josef Kudrna (whose department proposed the constitutional bill) justified the amendment on the grounds of codifying the factual situation as the citizens considered Bratislava as the capital of Slovakia.

Six deputies and the rapporteur took part in the discussion. Unlike in the case of the Constitutional Act concerning Prague, not only the general proclamations about the importance of the city for the entire state were made, but the proposed constitutional change was also discussed. Deputy Pacner expressed the belief that it was not suitable for the constitution to be changed too frequently and that a thorough discussion had taken place before its adoption. He added, however, that there is no other way of changing the actual state than by amending the constitution, just like in the case of Prague.

Deputy Němec was a next speaker. He expressed an opinion about the necessity of further revisions of the Constitution with regard to the status of Slovakia. According to Němec, the National Assembly's willingness to amend the Constitution in order to extend the territory of Prague shows that the deputies should not be afraid of discussing a more detailed constitutional change. Furthermore, Němec proposed an amendment according to which the newly established organ would be called the National Committee of the Slovak capital Bratislava. Němec's amendment was also supported by minister Kudrna (who represented the department proposing the original amendment). Subsequently, the constitutional amendment was unanimously enacted in the version as proposed by Mr. Němec.