The press conference held by Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) on Thursday has practically destroyed in one fell swoop the entire deal that the coalition had spent the entire week forging, junior coalition SaS party leader and Economy Minister Richard Sulik stated before a session of the Government on Friday. "We're back to square one," said Sulik, adding that he's saddened by Matovic's behaviour.
At Thursday's press conference, attended by Matovic and other OLaNO representatives, Health Minister Marek Krajci (OLaNO) announced his decision to resign. The prime minister stated that Krajci would be leaving gradually and would provide counsel to his successor for a few weeks. Matovic wanted Krajci to go only after the launch of inoculation with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in Slovakia, which, according to him, the coalition partners used as a pretext for Krajci's ouster. In this context, Matovic claimed that Krajci was used by SaS and For the People parties as a "ritual sacrifice".
Earlier on Thursday, We Are Family chair Boris Kollar and SaS leader Richard Sulik claimed earlier in the day that the coalition crisis had already been averted and spoke about agreement containing the memorandum on good governance.
On Friday, Sulik claimed that he had been under the impression that the deal would hold. He plans to consult the next course of action within the party over the weekend, and SaS will announce its stance and decision what to do next on Monday (March 15).
The situation continues to be serious, as the Government crisis hasn't gone away, For the People coalition party leader Veronika Remisova declared on Friday. "It's of paramount importance, particularly in this challenging crisis, for relations to improve and for trust to be restored so that people will no longer have to deal with the Government's problems but the Government will deal with theirs," said Remisova, adding that talks within her party will continue on Friday.
Source: TASR
