The Party of European Socialists (PES) will hold a session on February 14 in which it will re-assess Smer-SD's membership in the group, the TASR newswire reported.
However, PES spokesman Julian Scola would only say it was better to wait until the session had begun to see if a discussion on Smer-SD’s membership was on the agenda.
PES suspended Smer-SD's membership in October 2006 for creating a coalition with the Slovak National Party. According to then-PES chairman Nyrup Rasmussen, the decision was taken in line with the Berlin Declaration of 2001, which states the member parties have to refrain from any political grouping or co-operation on all levels with a party that incites racial or ethnic prejudices or racial hatred.
Originally the issue of the Smer-SD's membership was to be re-assessed in June 2007, however, the PES decided to postpone that discussion due to technical reasons.
Recently, Smer-SD ran into problems with PES over the proposed Press Act, which the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has also criticised.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
