The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) has again been excluded from a meeting of opposition parties.
The leaders of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) said they plan to meet on Thursday, September 4. But, as has been the case with other recent meetings, they have not invited representatives of the third parliamentary opposition party, the SMK. "We have not yet agreed to invite the SMK to talks," KDH Vice Chair Mária Sabolová told the SITA newswire. SMK vice-chair Miklós Duray said that the SMK regretted the other opposition parties’ decision, but doesn’t intend to press for a meeting with them.
Relations in the opposition cooled after the SMK supported ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in Parliament, along with parties from the ruling coalition, despite a previous opposition agreement to block the vote in order to leverage changes to the controversial new Press Code. Following the vote on the Lisbon Treaty, SDKÚ and KDH representatives declared that the opposition now consisted of only two parties. Leaders of the three parties last met on April 1 at SMK headquarters.
At their September 4 meeting, the SDKÚ and KDH will discuss a proposal to oust Justice Minister Štefan Harabin in a parliamentary no-confidence vote due on Thursday and also the upcoming regular parliamentary session, which will begin next Tuesday. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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