Labour Minister Ján Richter (source: SITA)
After two weeks of criticism of Labour Minister Ján Richter for his procrastination in the scandal over the resocialisation centre, Čistý deň (Trnava region) the government’s SNS party decided to not vote for his removal.
Richter finally took away Čistý deň’s accreditation due to the possible endangerment of its clients. He decided to do so after the police filed sexual abuse charges against a former Čistý Deň employee in mid-August.
The suspicions of abuse however occurred earlier in September 2016 but Richter claimed at that time that he saw no reason to strip the centre of its accreditation.
Since mid-August SNS representatives have been pointing out that PM Robert Fico forced their nominee Peter Plavčan to leave his post as education minister due to suspicions related to the distribution of eurofunding and asked why the same approach did not apply to Richter.
In response to Plavčan’s departure, the SNS demanded that Smer’s Richter should also resign. The opposition attempted to oust him in the parliament session on September 7. The SNS indicated that it would vote with the opposition which would mean the fall of the coalition formed by the SNS, Smer and Most-Híd. At the end of day however they stated that they will not support the opposition.
"We will not make Mr Sulík happy," SNS MP Eva Antošová told the Denník N daily referring to Richard Sulík, the leader of the SaS, the strongest opposition party.
