Opposition Parties Welcome Scrapping of Tender but Insist on Sasko's Resignation

Bratislava, 11 August (TASR) - Opposition parties welcome the decision to cancel the ambulance service tender, but continue to insist that Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) should resign from his post, as the parties stated in response to the minister's statement on Monday, in which he announced the cancellation of the tender. "We welcome his statement. Nevertheless, of course, we want to warn him that he shouldn't play a magnanimous saviour of society, because he is the one who caused this whole messed up tender. We see no reason for Minister Kamil Sasko to avoid his political responsibility after such a botched tender, where there are direct suspicions of political corruption," said MP for the Christian Democrats (KDH) Peter Stachura. Leader of the Progressive Slovakia (PS) party Michal Simecka criticised the minister for informing about the decision by video instead of at the announced press conference. However, Simecka said the minister must end as he either knew about all the connections and political corruption or he didn't know, which would mean that he is a weak minister. Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) also insists on Sasko's resignation. According to them, the decision to cancel the tender confirmed that the opposition's criticism was justified. The party pointed out that there are still many unanswered questions in the tender procedure. "However, there are a huge number of mistakes and strange coincidences. Under these conditions, the correct solution would be to dismiss Minister Sasko," stated the party. The 'Slovakia' party welcomed the decision to scrap the tender. "It was worth working hard during the summer - the thieving tender will be cancelled and the €2 billion meant to save lives is saved for now," it said. The health minister informed on Monday that as of Tuesday (12 August) he'll entrust the management of the Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre (OS ZZS) to a new statutory officer, who will take all necessary steps to scrap the tender in the shortest possible time, fully in accordance with the law. He explained his decision by the first results of the analyses which he requested last week from the operations centre. According to the minister, they showed that there was legal uncertainty that could have allowed different interpretation of the legal regulation of the ongoing tender. At the same time, according to him, the transparency of the whole process could have been jeopardised. The ambulance service tender is being criticised both by the opposition and the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS). The opposition parties tabled on Friday (8 August) a no-confidence motion in Sasko in this regard in Parliament. MPs are expected to discuss the motion on Wednesday (13 August) at an extraordinary session. Sasko declared that he won't allow scandals or "shady deals". Head of the Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre Marian Povolny resigned on Monday. am/mcs