The next Coalition Council session is scheduled for Friday, August 25, with coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko proposing this date to his two coalition partners Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Béla Bugár (Most-Híd), according to the TASR press agency. Both added that the ministries falling under the remit of their parties will take part in a Government session due to take place this Wednesday (August 23). "The Smer-SD party expects that the issue of withdrawing from the coalition agreement on the part of Slovak National Party will be addressed first and foremost," said Smer-SD Spokesperson Ľubica Končalová, adding that the party is ready to submit its own demands at the session with regards to the coalition agreement. She went on to say that Smer-SD's demands mainly concern a state budget for next year, including more significant hikes in the minimum wage and more support for people who take care of disabled or other disadvantaged individuals. "The Most-Híd party won't comment on the current situation via the media. It wants to address it at the Coalition Council session scheduled for Friday," said Most-Hid spokesperson Klára Debnar.
The Slovak National Party leadership will hold talks on Thursday, one day before the Coalition Council session; a meeting to be attended by party ministers and MPs. The coalition has been in a crisis for over two weeks now. Following a scandal involving the distribution of EU funds by the Education Ministry, a post belonging to a Slovak National Party nominee, the party chief Andrej Danko withdrew from the coalition agreement as of September 1. The coalition leaders concurred that there was no alternative to the current Government and that they wanted to carry on, but then Danko announced his requirements, publishing them in the media before announcing them to partners. The leaders have held no other formal meetings, even though they initially claimed that they would do so. Education Minister Peter Plavčan (an SNS nominee) announced last week that he would resign from his post over the EU funds scandal after Prime Minister asked him to do so. Danko then took four days off to ponder the future of the governing coalition and also whether he considers it worth remaining in politics at all.
