L-R: MP Ľuboš Blaha and Prime Minsiter Robert Fico (source: TASR)
A programme conference of the governing party Smer will take place in Bratislava on October 22.
Apart from Smer members, the event is also due to be attended by some prominent figures from abroad, including chairman of the German Social Democrats and Federal Vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the Czech Social Democrats and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, and Austrian Culture Minister Thomas Drozda, the TASR newswire reported.
The conference is taking place at a time when critical voices have begun to be heard in the party calling for major changes. At the event Smer is due to unveil a new programme thesis prepared by Vladimír Faič, who serves as an MP and as chairman of the advisory corps to Prime Minister, Robert Fico.
Originally, the programme conference should have taken place in September after the informal EU summit in Bratislava, but it was postponed by the party leadership. At the same time the leadership withdrew an original thesis prepared by Ľuboš Blaha and Pavol Paška that defined Smer as a standard centre-left party acknowledging the traditional values of Slovak and European social democracy, TASR reported.
