Parliament approved the government program yesterday, after four days of debate. The vote was 78 for, and 65 opposition members voted against. Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that he wants to have the budget approved before the end of the year. ‘We want to enter the new year not only with the approved state budget, but also a legal base for the 13th pension, the subsidization of interest rates for mortgage loans and other decisions that will gradually fulfill the approved program statement.’
The chairman of Hlas, the second party in the coalition, is also the chairman of Parliament. Peter Pellegrini said that the government first of all wants to live up to its words about a strong state.
‘We promised the people a strong state in the fields of energy, banks, food and healthcare.’
The opposition party KDH considers the approved program statement to be insufficient and unambitious without concrete solutions. At the same time, Milan Majerský declared that he was frightened by the coalition's words about a strong state.
‘In the developed countries, a strong citizen comes first and then leads to a strong state, but here it's the opposite, I'm afraid that if we don't have strong citizens in Slovakia, there won't be a strong state either.’
Branislav Grohling, for the opposition party, SaS, said the when Smer was in government for 12 years, they repeatedly made promises they didn’t keep.
‘We know how the highway to Košice turned out, which Smer had promised since 2010, we know how the 13th pensions turned out, which he promised for 10 years but did not approve, even when he was in the government for 4 years.’
(RTVS)
