The leaders of opposition parties Progressive Slovakia (PS), SaS, the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the non-parliamentary Democrats met on Tuesday to discuss future cooperation, and they agreed to hold consultations on programme priorities with the aim of finding common ground.
According to PS leader Michal Šimečka, there's a need to overcome the crisis that followed the vote on a constitutional amendment, which strained cooperation among the parties. SaS chair Branislav Gröhling expressed his hope that Tuesday's meeting will be the first step towards a future government manifesto that will bring a restart for Slovakia.
"The leaders of the four opposition parties exchanged views on the current political and social situation. They agreed on a common goal – to replace the government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD) through democratic means," said the leaders in a joint statement.
In addition to Šimečka and Gröhling, KDH chair Milan Majersky and Democrats leader Jaroslav Naď took part in the meeting. The four opposition parties announced consultations on programme priorities in areas such as public finances and economic policy, foreign policy, decentralisation, justice, defence, health care, the environment, education and agriculture, with the aim of finding common ground for future cooperation.
According to Šimečka, the parties need to speak about professional and stable cooperation and about Slovakia's future after a democratic change from Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) government. "We all know that our cooperation was in crisis after the vote on the Constitution; we must overcome this and speak about the way forward. This is a good start," Šimečka wrote on social media.
Source: TASR
