Gaspar Doesn't Think President Thwarted Referendum, But He'd Lift Sanctions

Bratislava, 4 June (TASR) - I don't think that President Peter Pellegrini thwarted the referendum on sanctions against Russia by his actions, Parliamentary Vice-chair for the Smer-SD party Tibor Gaspar told journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, adding that he agrees with the doubts about the referendum question and to whom it was addressed. However, Gaspar also said that sanctions against Russia should be ended as soon as possible. "I wouldn't say that in this case this is a thwarted referendum," said Gaspar, adding that the question is also whether the signatures on the petition were obtained in a relevant legal manner. According to Gaspar, Smer-SD continues to insist that it won't vote in favour of sanctions that are intended to harm Slovakia's economic interests. "If we want to finally contribute in some way to resolving the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we need to start talking, and now I'm referring to the Russian Federation, Ukraine and also EU-member states, about whether it isn't possible to end the sanctions at the price of accepting peace," he said, adding that there's a need to wait for the next meeting of European bodies, then Smer-SD will take a stance. The president said on Wednesday that a referendum initiated by the extra-parliamentary Slovak Revival Movement on lifting sanctions against Russia can't be declared. He sees ambiguities in the requested question: "Do you agree that the Slovak Republic should not apply sanctions against the Russian Federation that harm Slovak citizens, sole traders and businesses?". In his view, the proposal for a referendum is not clear, definite or predictable and would therefore be unworkable in practice. am/df