The coalition parties Hlas-SD and SNS have until Monday (February 17) to negotiate a solution for the restoration of a permanent government majority, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) posted on a social network on Tuesday. He added that if they don't reach intra-party agreements with MPs who have left their caucuses by that date, they accept that he'll propose several changes in the government to President Peter Pellegrini on that day.
According to Fico, the coalition must immediately return to implementing the government manifesto.
In an open letter SNS chair, Andrej Danko stated that the way in which the Prime Minister has decided to address the coalition crisis is a gross violation of the coalition agreement.
Danko called on the Prime Minister not to create pressure and not to disparage SNS and Hlas-SD. According to him, the PM cannot change ministers without the consent of the parent parties. In Danko’s opinion, SNS and Hlas-SD are not responsible for the situation.
"This is no longer our responsibility. You are the Prime Minister and you know very well who broke them, controls them and won them over to their side. Deal with those people, not by attacking us and scaring the public with elections," said the SNS chief, referring to the defectors from the coalition caucuses.
"Your short-term solution is to take a ministry away from the Hlas-SD in violation of the coalition agreement and assign it to people who have betrayed them, and you want to do the same with the Tourism and Sport Ministry. You are even offering places on your voting list to my ministers, which disappoints me personally," stated the SNS leader, asking Fico whether he doesn't mind that Rudolf Huliak, who is an independent MP after leaving the SNS caucus, should be a minister. According to the SNS leader, Fico himself didn't want him at the Environment Ministry.
Danko also reminded Fico in the letter that he has supported him in the past, whether in the coalition or in the opposition. "Three times our political party SNS helped you to become prime minister and each time you used us and then almost destroyed us," he wrote.
Hlas-SD leader Matúš Šutaj Eštok declared that Hlas-SD is ready for any debate within the coalition, but it rejects the possibility of snap general elections, adding that this would mean not fulfilling election promises.
Šutaj Eštok opined that all the coalition partners must accept their responsibility to guarantee a majority in Parliament. "We in Hlas are aware of this responsibility. We've expelled two MPs who weren't interested in the common policy of Hlas," he said. At the same time, he declared his readiness to discuss with his coalition partners the consequences for the coalition agreement.
"Representatives of the ruling coalition have today directly and indirectly intensively discussed to definitively resolving the crisis in the Hlas-SD and SNS parties, which are currently unable to stably guarantee a functional governing majority due to the MPs who left their parliamentary caucuses," the Premier stated on Tuesday. Hlas and SNS want to present proposals for a solution to restore a stable governing majority by Monday.
The coalition had 79 MPs at the start of the term. Last year, three MPs, including Rudolf Huliak, Pavol Luptak and Ivan Sevcik, left the SNS caucus. This year, the Hlas-SD caucus lost three lawmakers. Roman Malatinec joined the SNS defectors and Radomir Salitros and Samuel Migal were expelled from the party.
The MPs around Huliak had earlier declared their readiness to help the coalition fulfil the government manifesto. However, they pointed out that the negotiations were still ongoing. In recent days, several ministers have admitted to changes in the government related to the changes in Parliament.
Source: TASR
