Is "Fast-Track" Always the Best Track? - The Case of Expedited Legislative Procedure in Slovakia

SUTÓRISOVÁ, Viktória Alžbeta, Andrea FIGULOVÁ and Samuel KRAJŇÁK. Is "Fast-Track" Always the Best Track? - The Case of Expedited Legislative Procedure in Slovakia (Is "Fast-Track" Always the Best Track?). In ECPR, 8th Conference of the Standing Group on Parliaments, Vienna 2023. 2023.

Basic information

• Original name: Is "Fast-Track" Always the Best Track? - The Case of Expedited Legislative Procedure in Slovakia
• Name in Czech: Je zrychlené konání opravdu to nejlepší konaní? - Případová studie zrychleného legislativního konání na Slovensku
• Name (in English): Is "Fast-Track" Always the Best Track?
• Authors: SUTÓRISOVÁ, Viktória Alžbeta, Andrea FIGULOVÁ and Samuel KRAJŇÁK.
• Edition: ECPR, 8th Conference of the Standing Group on Parliaments, Vienna 2023, 2023.

Other information

• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Keywords (in Czech): zrychlené konání; legislativní proces; pravidla legislativního procesu; good governance; právní stát
• Keywords in English: expedited legislative procedure; fast-track legislative procedure; accelerated legislative procedure; legislative process; rules of the legislative procedure; good governance; rule of law
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

The regulatory quality of legislation proposed by the Slovak government, or the MPs, has been questioned in recent years. It is possible to observe several methods of circumvention of currently applicable rules, raising questions about the binding nature of these rules on the legislators themselves. The use of the fast-track legislative procedure without fulfilling its formal preconditions has become one of the main ways of bypassing the standard procedure. In this paper, we aim to describe the development of the institute of the fast-track legislative procedure in the Slovak context and assess it from the perspective of the good governance theory to widen both the theoretical and empirical knowledge in this area. Quantitative analysis is used to identify specific areas of legislation passed with the use of the fast-track procedure and to examine the success rate of legislation approved in this manner. The article further analyses the appropriateness of justifications for using this procedure and discusses the variation in the use of the fast-track legislative procedure during different Slovak governments, while taking into account the specific circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Finally, as a case study, we analyse the decision of the Slovak Constitutional Court (PL. ÚS 13/2022) in which the Court declared for the first time a piece of legislation unconstitutional due to abuse of the fast-track procedure. Results demonstrate that a significant proportion of laws were adopted through the fast-track legislative procedure, while the justification of the legal prerequisites for the use of fast-track legislative procedure is rather only of a formal nature, not properly reflecting the current societal circumstances. The absence of accountability for unfounded shortening of proper legislative procedure nonetheless remains.

Abstract (in English)

The regulatory quality of legislation proposed by the Slovak government, or the MPs, has been questioned in recent years. It is possible to observe several methods of circumvention of currently applicable rules, raising questions about the binding nature of these rules on the legislators themselves. The use of the fast-track legislative procedure without fulfilling its formal preconditions has become one of the main ways of bypassing the standard procedure. In this paper, we aim to describe the development of the institute of the fast-track legislative procedure in the Slovak context and assess it from the perspective of the good governance theory to widen both the theoretical and empirical knowledge in this area. Quantitative analysis is used to identify specific areas of legislation passed with the use of the fast-track procedure and to examine the success rate of legislation approved in this manner. The article further analyses the appropriateness of justifications for using this procedure and discusses the variation in the use of the fast-track legislative procedure during different Slovak governments, while taking into account the specific circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Finally, as a case study, we analyse the decision of the Slovak Constitutional Court (PL. ÚS 13/2022) in which the Court declared for the first time a piece of legislation unconstitutional due to abuse of the fast-track procedure. Results demonstrate that a significant proportion of laws were adopted through the fast-track legislative procedure, while the justification of the legal prerequisites for the use of fast-track legislative procedure is rather only of a formal nature, not properly reflecting the current societal circumstances. The absence of accountability for unfounded shortening of proper legislative procedure nonetheless remains.