Matovic: Gov't Not Able to Decide to Reject Pandemic Agreement without... (2)

Bratislava, May 19 (TASR) - The Slovak government could not have decided to reject the pandemic agreement without meeting because Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) stated on Monday that the ministers of the Voice-SD party did not vote against the agreement, meaning that the government was not united, which is a requirement for adopting a resolution in this form, opposition 'Slovakia' party leader Igor Matovic stated at a press conference on Monday, citing the government's rules of procedure. Matovic stressed that in such cases, the resolution must be adopted at a government session. "Either Sutaj Estok is lying in this case when he says his ministers supported the pandemic agreement ... or Robert Fico is lying when he claims that such a vote took place. He's legitimising a fraud, because the vote simply couldn't have happened if some ministers were in favour and others were against," said Matovic, explaining that when a vote takes place without a meeting, the resolution is circulated through all ministries for each minister to give their opinion. Matovic also claimed that the delegation set to vote on the pandemic agreement at the World Health Assembly doesn't have a mandate, as the resolution wasn't adopted. He pointed out that other countries are in favour of adopting the agreement. "So, 190 countries are complete fools who are about to vote on something they haven't even seen, and only Robert Fico and his sidekick [Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter] Kotlar are right," said Matovic. Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced over the weekend that, according to the government's decision, the Slovak delegation at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, won't support the pandemic treaty and will also request that it be put to a vote rather than adopted by global consensus. Meanwhile, Health Minister Kamil Sasko doesn't consider the decision to be correct, as neither he nor the Voice-SD party supports Slovakia's rejection of the treaty. According to him, the agreement doesn't restrict national sovereignty or take away anyone's freedom to decide how to respond in the event of a pandemic. The 78th session of the World Health Assembly is taking place in Geneva from 19 to 27 May. The wording of a pandemic agreement aimed at better preparing for and combating pandemics has been under negotiation for several years. lin/df