Gov't Was Deciding on Stance on Pandemic Agreement, Hasn't Published Conclusion

Bratislava, May 16 (TASR) - The government was voting remotely on Slovakia's stance on the so-called pandemic agreement on Friday, according to the information published on the Government Office's website, however, a resolution on the proposal for the participation of the Slovak delegation in the 78th session of the World Health Assembly, which will be held in Geneva between May 19-27, hasn't yet been published. Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) posted on a social network that at the government meeting he supported that Slovakia should ask for an individual vote on the pandemic agreement. "So that countries would vote on the pandemic agreement individually, so that each country had the right to be for or against and not to vote by global consensus," he stated, adding that he is in favour of opposing the pandemic agreement in the event of such a vote. "According to the mood at the government meeting yesterday, I think that the majority of ministers will support this stance and Slovakia won't be obliged to ratify the pandemic agreement and will keep its independence in decision-making," he stated. The government was expected to decide on the stance of our delegation at the World Health Assembly in Switzerland on Thursday (May 15) but in the end it suspended the talks on the agreement. Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stressed that there are differing opinions on the attitude to the agreement, but Smer-SD considers it to be "absolutely unacceptable". am