Parliament did not have the neeeded quorum to pass a bill on the increased 2022 state budget on October 11, 2022. (source: SITA)
Parliament failed to open a session again on Tuesday, the vote on increasing this year’s state budget postponed to next week.
Eduard Heger’s government plans to expand the budget by €1.5 billion without changing the planned deficit after the increase of the state’s tax revenues compared to the originally approved budget, but the government cannot use the money this year without changing legislation.
The electronic attendance system showed that 84 MPs were present in the debating chamber before the Tuesday vote, more than the necessary quorum of 76 MPs. During the voting, however, several opposition MPs decided to pull out the voting cards of their electronic devices to block parliament. The electronic system eventually registered only 66 MPs in the chamber, making the vote invalid.
Speaker Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina) decided to move the voting and the current session’s programme to next Tuesday, October 18, thus repeating his decision from last Friday. The opposition then blocked parliament due to the amendment that would have increased the 2022 state budget.
Blank cheque
The opposition, including SaS, a former coalition party, has criticised the amendment, arguing that it does not name what the government is going to use the €1.5 billion for.
“The way it is written now, it gives Finance Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) a blank cheque to do whatever he wants with the money,” SaS chair Richard Sulík said on October 7.
For the same reason, the Council for Budget Responsibility - a constitutional body that controls state spending – is also criticising Matovič.
Sulík requests the withdrawal of the current proposal and the submission of a new one, where the individual items will be clearly listed. He added that once that is done SaS will no longer block the session.
Millions for firms
Whether the coalition is going to submit a new and detailed proposal to parliament is not clear.
“It's very likely this draft law will be withdrawn and a new one, clearly saying where the resources are going, will be drafted,” said Kollár, chair of one of three coalition parties.
Other coalition parties, OĽaNO and Za Ľudí, claim that the opposition is preventing the government from helping people.
Labour Minister Milan Krajniak (Sme Rodina) said last week that €900 million should be used to help firms with high energy bills and €207 million should cover fourteenth pensions, a one-off contribution the government plans to pay to pensioners in November. The millions will be split among more than 1.4 million pensioners, who should receive from €35 to €210 next month. The remaining sum should help public administration and vulnerable groups.
This year, according to the submitted amendment, the state budget will contain revenues of €21.5 billion and expenses of €27 billion.
By October 15, three days before the start of the October session, the government also has to submit the 2023 state budget to parliament.
