Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
Following the statement of Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko, that the ministers nominated by his Slovak National Party (SNS) would not attend the August 23 session, no regular session was convened. Instead, the ministers discussed the issues per rollam, which means they voted in writing without convening a meeting.
Though Prime Minister Robert Fico first planned a press conference, he did not appear. Instead, the statement was provided by Maroš Šefčovic, Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union, the Sme daily reported.
Originally, Fico planned to summon an ordinary governmental session with several topics on its programme. But he later changed his mind.
The government was set to discuss one topic: the mandate for Fico, who is expected to attend a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron later in the afternoon in Salzburg, the TASR newswire reported.
With his decision, Fico made a slight concession to Danko, who had reportedly claimed that if there had been an ordinary session, his party would have left the coalition, the Pluska.sk website reported.
SNS will meet to discuss the situation
SNS welcomed the fact that Fico did not summon an ordinary governmental session. Its ministers are ready to support Fico’s mandate or his meeting with Macron, chair of the party’s caucus Tibor Bernaťák told the SITA newswire before the August 23 session.
Meanwhile, SNS’s leadership is scheduled to meet on August 24, while the members of the caucus are expected to attend it. The main topic will be the current situation in the coalition following Danko’s decision to terminate the coalition agreement and the resignation of Peter Plavčan from the post of education minister.
Following the forced resignation of Plavčan, the situation in the caucus is heated, according to Bernaťák, as its members supported Labour Minister Ján Richter when he faced a no-confidence vote back in April.
“SNS MPs behaved responsibly towards the coalition at the time,” Bernaťák told SITA.
Subsequently, the coalition is scheduled to meet on August 25 to discuss an amendment to the coalition agreement. SNS wants to ask for stricter property disclosures to be submitted by public officials.
“If the government really wants to fight corruption, it should serve as an example,” the party wrote in a statement, as quoted by Sme.
More detailed property statements should help increase the trust of people in the government, SNS opines.
