A second attempt of the opposition failed to get a debate on public debt to the parliamentary agenda. Members of the People’s Platform suggested on Tuesday when parliament reconvened after the summer break that draft measures to reduce the public debt should be debated at the plenary session as a special point. Nevertheless, governing party lawmakers voted to dismiss the initiative.
The after-holiday session of parliament thus had a similar beginning as the last before the summer break when the session closed after lawmakers turned down opposition attempts to convene an unscheduled session that was to debate the growing debt of the general government. Opposition MPs warn that in line with the constitutional law on budgetary responsibility the government has to come up with a set of measures to reduce the debt after it oversteps 52 percent of GDP. They do not consider the letter that the finance minister has sent to the speaker of parliament to be sufficient and in line with the law. In addition, a few weeks ago Eurostat reported that the Slovak government debt continues to rise and attacks the next limit of 55 percent of GDP.
