Opposition Criticises Failure to Convene House Committee for Social Affairs (2)

Bratislava, 21 August (TASR) – The House Committee for Social Affairs was not quorate on Thursday due to the absence of coalition legislators, drawing criticism from the opposition. According to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family's press department, Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) was prepared to attend the session and discuss the state of social services in Slovakia. „The situation in social services is worsening by the day. Facilities and staff are collapsing, and instead of helping, the government turns a blind eye. Erik Tomas is watching the system fall apart, and today, coalition MPs didn’t even bother to attend the committee session, clearly showing they do not care about people working in social services,” said opposition's MP Martina Bajo Holeckova (SaS). The committee was set to discuss a letter from employees of the Brezovec Social Services Centre in Dolny Kubin addressed to the Labour Minister. According to SaS, the letter described an unsustainable situation in social services, mainly due to staff shortages. „The minister was ready to come and discuss the state of social services in Slovakia, but the parliamentary Committee for Social Affairs was not quorate. The adverse situation in social services has been here for a long time; it is not a matter of one or two years. Opposition members of the Committee are obviously politicking. We went beyond usual norms by inviting them to join a working group on the reform of social services financing, which aims to improve the entire situation. We would expect them to use this platform to propose concrete solutions instead of engaging in political theatre,” clarified the ministry. According to opposition MP Simona Petrik (Progressive Slovakia), the main issues bedevilling social service facilities are low salaries and the lack of staff. She pointed out that Tomas often claims the problem will be resolved through the reform of the financing system. „Our MPs were invited to just one session of the working group and not to the second one. So we genuinely don’t know — nor do the directors of these care homes — what the proposed legislation will look like. Yes, it may increase the caregiver allowance and place it in the hands of the beneficiary, who will then decide where to spend it, but this still won’t resolve the core issue: there won't be anyone left to work in these homes,” Petrik concluded. The ministry added that the minister and experts are working intensively on the financing reform, which must be approved by 1 January 2026, as required by the recovery plan. „Just yesterday (20 August), the European Commission gave preliminary approval to the final version of the reform. Today, we discussed it with the Association of Social Services Providers and will continue talks with other partners in the coming days. After this round of bilateral negotiations, the working group will reconvene,” the ministry concluded. mf