Drucker Denies Coalition Plans to Trigger Snap Election after Passing Budget

(TA3, 'V politike', May 25) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, Education Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) denied that the coalition would plan to trigger a snap election after the next year's budget is passed in Parliament, as claimed by representatives of the opposition 'Slovakia' party. "This is absolute nonsense, no such debates are taking place. What we want to focus on is preparing a high-quality budget and, of course, stabilising the tasks that are ahead of us," said Drucker. His opponent on the show, opposition MP Ivan Stefunko (Progressive Slovakia/PS) criticised the coalition for not providing targeted assistance concerning, for example, energy price caps. Stefunko also criticised the governing parties for the low investment influx in Slovakia and the country's economic situation. According to Drucker, sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine are not working well, with European countries still buying Russian oil and gas in the end, but indirectly and at higher prices. Stefunko argued that the Czech Republic, which has cut itself off Russian raw material supplies, pays lower energy prices than Slovakia. Concerning falling voter support for his party, Drucker stated that Voice-SD is stable. He denied that there would be any discussion about changes in the party leadership, including its chairman Matus Sutaj Estok. "We'll have to react on some things more loudly," he said. He thinks that the party commented on Premier Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) trip to Moscow loud enough as well. ko