President Zuzana Čaputová called on Prime Minister Igor Matovič (OLaNO) to end the coalition and government crisis as soon as possible. "It's necessary to end the 'agony' and act. It's about time," claimed Čaputová after meeting Matovič and representatives of the junior coalition SaS party on Tuesday, adding that Slovakia needs a fully functional government.
Čaputová also urged the Government to provide more extensive aid to the people, as "poverty and life in fear is becoming a new pandemic in its own right". She also asks for immediate changes to the vaccination programme, so that it won't be an "undignified competition for survival" and calls for improvements in communication both inside the government and outward.
She added that conflicts within the government have gone on for months, and the government crisis for two and half weeks. Čaputová warned that every day matters during the pandemic.
Because of this, she invited Premier Matovič on Tuesday to the Presidential Palace to learn of his plans for dealing with the critical situation. "He had no specific answer for the time being," she said.
The government of Igor Matovič has been embroiled in a crisis over the circumstances surrounding the purchase of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine earlier in the month, although tensions within the coalition go back much earlier. They have been fed by disputes between Prime Minister Igor Matovič and Freedom and Solidarity party leader and Economy Minister Richard Sulík.
