“Without the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS), my government will be dysfunctional and lack a majority in Parliament”, declared Prime Minister Eduard Heger after a meeting of coalition representatives on the issue of the Coalition crisis.
The PM called for stability and the willingness to seek solutions in order to ensure that the coalition stays together. “That is why it is important for us to strive for unity and cooperation while keeping in mind the daunting times that are coming, so that we are able to ensure adequate support for the Slovak people," added Heger. He also underlined that Slovakia and the world are going through an unprecedented crisis. "If there is something we have no time for, it is destabilisation. This is the time for stabilisation and cooperation,” said Heger.
The coalition crisis started with disagreements surrounding the adoption of the so-called pro-family package. The Freedom and Solidarity SaS conditions its remaining in the coalition upon the ouster of Finance Minister Igor Matovič, who is also head of the largest governing Ordinary People party. Among other things, SaS criticises his lack of cooperation and populism. On the other hand, the Ordinary People party claims that SaS is trying to capitalise on Matovič’s low popularity.
Last week, the presidium as well as the parliamentary caucus of Ordinary People party decided Matovič would remain in the post of finance minister even after the expiration of the ultimatum set by the coalition Freedom and Solidarity party for the end of August. Speaker of Parliament and Chair of Junior Governing We Are Family party Boris Kollár said he expects negotiations on the future of the four-coalition to be sharp.
Source: TASR
