Prime Minister Iveta Radičová is soon to face her first no-confidence motion in the Slovak Parliament since she took office, as opposition Smer is initiating a special parliamentary session featuring no-confidence in Radičová as its only item, says Smer leader Robert Fico, news wire TASR reported.
Speaking to media on September 5, Fico said the initiative of his party was not just over the dubious rental of the Tax Directorate offices in Košice but also what he called Radičová’s “overall lack of capability in running a government and due to the consequences that have thereby been inflicted on Slovakia”.
Fico said Radičová is mute when it comes to the cover-up of the scandal concerning the rental of premises for the tax offices in Košice, despite “the swagger in her statements from the past”.
Smer said it is ready to submit the required 30 signatures from legislators at the very beginning of a regular session due to begin on September 6. If that happens, Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulík will be obliged to summon the special session within seven days, according to TASR.
Fico said on August 23 that if the prime minister does not sack Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš over the affair before the regular parliamentary session, Smer would initiate the no-confidence motion.
Radičová’s spokesman Rado Baťo has said that the prime minister will go public with her stance on the issue after Mikloš returns from holiday. Mikloš has been back in Slovakia since Sunday, September 4, TASR wrote.
According to Fico, the reason for Mikloš 's dismissal should be his long-time advocacy of a tender for the rental of premises for the tax offices in Košice, a scandal which has had the government on the back foot for much of the year.
The Tax Directorate decided to make a deal for the rental with Nitra Invest, controlled by Ondrej Ščurka, the district leader of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, in spite of appeals from some NGOs to not do so. The Fair-Play Alliance recommended that the Tax Directorate refuse to sign the contract and cancel the tender saying that the criteria were tailored-made for Ščurka's firm. This was the second tender to choose a building for the tax authorities in Košice.
