(source: TASR)
The suspended extraordinary session that was supposed to decide the fate of Kaliňák will continue after the ordinary parliament session which starts September 6, the TASR newswire wrote. The MPs made this decision based on a proposal by the Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party-SNS).
He used several of the international activities of parliament connected with Slovakia’s presidency of the Council of the European union in his arguments.
The opposition slammed his decision shouting, “Shame! Shame!” and suggested the parliamentary Mandates’ and Immunity Committee should discipline Danko for the suspenion of the session. The committee met and refused this course of action on that same day, TASR wrote. Danko allegedly explained his reasons and the committee turned the proposal down. A group of opposition MPs now plan to turn to the Constitutional Court for two reasons - because of Danko’s decision and because the coaltion did not allow discussion of the opposition's proposal to dismiss Prime Minister Robert Fico. Some opposition MPs also want to recall Danko.
Minister Kaliňák should resign because of the scandal connecting him with businessman Ladislav Bašternák, suspected of VAT fraud. This stems from a poll conducted by the Polis agency for the SITA newswire. A telephone poll conducted between June 25 and July 1 on a sample of 1,433 respondents asked “Do you think Robert Kaliňák should resign because of the Bašternák scandal…?” Of those polled, 49 percent answered Yes, 28.2 percent think that Kaliňák should not resign, and 22.8 percent did not know.
The poll also asked people whether PM Robert Fico should resign. In this case, 34.9 percent were for his resignation, 44.5 percent were against and another 20.6 percent did not know. In addition, 74.4 percent of respondents think that the police and prosecutorial bodies are under political influence, while nine percent claim the opposite and 16.6 percent do not know. In the case of the investigation of the Bašternák scandal, 53.5 percent of respondents believe it has come under the influence of government, while 24.3 percent do not believe it and 22.2 could not decide, SITA wrote.
