Fico: One Church and Public Holiday Could Be Scrapped As Part of Consolidation

Bratislava, 1 June (TASR) - One public and one church holiday could be scrapped as part of the consolidation, however, the transaction tax was a necessity without which the government couldn't do the consolidation as it's a tool to get €700 million into the state budget to consolidate public finances, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told a press conference on Sunday. "I received with great respect the proposal of the Republic Union of Employers (RUZ), which says that there is another way of approaching the consolidation of public finances. I looked in great detail at what the Republican Union of Employers is proposing. These are various measures, but above all of a long-term nature," stated Fico, adding that, for example, measures to merge offices or reduce the number of employees in the public administration by 15 percent can't be done by the end of the year, because it is a long-term process. According to him, the current government had to consolidate public finances because it took over the bad management of the state from the former governments of Igor Matovic, Eduard Heger and Ludovit Odor. Therefore, not only entrepreneurs and local authorities, but also all the inhabitants of Slovakia must pay for it. The premier specified that he also sees in the RUZ's proposals one in the form of scrapping two public holidays, which could be discussed. "We have one of the largest numbers of public holidays in the world. If I counted them correctly, the number stands at 14, let's talk about it, because every single public holiday brings €150 million to the state budget if it is cancelled, so I offer an alternative, if someone says that part of the transaction tax should be scrapped and the state budget will lose €200-300 million, then let's offer an alternative and abolish one public and one church holiday," said Fico. am