Political analyst Miroslav Kusý said on April 10 that approval of the Lisbon Treaty was "an elegant solution, in which the opposition SMK party helped to overcome the opposition’s stalemate", the TASR newswire wrote.
According to Kusý, a substantial part of the opposition is pro-European, even though it had blocked it by tying it to the coalition’s controversial Press Act. Kusý suggested that the Slovak Demoratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), the strongest party in the opposition, might have given its silent approval to the SMK, just to overcome the stalemate.
"It's good that Parliament has approved the Lisbon Treaty,” political analyst Samuel Abrahám said. “The SMK has single-handedly saved the opposition."
He added that the opposition can now concentrate on the "scandalous" Press Act. Abrahám doesn't expect the rift between the opposition parties to last for long, because, in his opinion, the opposition always wanted to approve the treaty.
"The SMK allowed them to save face," Abrahám added.
Another political scientist, Rastislav Toth, said that it was clear from the beginning that the treaty was going to be approved.
"The opposition couldn't have bet against its own partners in the European Parliament," he added.
Political analyst Juraj Marušiak also said that he was not surprised by the SMK's move. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
