The ruling coalition will not seek Robert Fico’s ouster as a Deputy Speaker of Parliament, leaders of the governing parties announced after the February 7 meeting of their Coalition Council, the TASR newswire reported.
The idea to propose Fico's dismissal was brought forward by Richard Sulík, Speaker of Parliament and head of the Freedom and Solidarity party. He claimed that the move was aimed at making Fico “face the music” over losses to the state worth millions of euros that Fico had caused with a law banning private health insurance companies from paying dividends to shareholders. Slovakia’s Constitutional Court ruled on January 26 that this legislation was in violation of the constitution.
Sulík's idea failed to garner support among fellow coalition partners. "We'll strive to reduce the damage that's been caused by the laws deemed as anti-constitutional. The laws fall within responsibilities of all MPs who voted for them," said Prime Minister Iveta Radičová to TASR. However, she noted that it is up to each politician to decide on how to deal with the issue.
"Let's leave it up to the conscience of the lawyer who has submitted the laws and then declined to defend them at the Constitutional Court," she said in referring to former prime minister Fico.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
