Danko: Vote by People from Matovic's Party a Pleasant Surprise

Bratislava, 1 October (TASR) – The government-sponsored constitutional amendment posed a challenge to all opposition MPs who align with conservative values, Slovak National Party (SNS) chair Andrej Danko declared in an interview with TASR TV. Until the very last moment, it was uncertain whether the coalition would secure a constitutional majority to pass the changes. Had the vote taken place on the originally scheduled Thursday, it would have failed by one vote due to the absence of a coalition MP. According to Danko, the coalition leadership in Parliament – House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD), vice-chairs Andrej Danko (SNS) and Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) – agreed to postpone the vote to Friday to improve the chances of passing the amendment. Despite support from coalition MPs and some members of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), a few additional opposition votes were still needed. „I was betting on people from Matovic’s party. They pleasantly surprised me. Faith in them prevailed,” Danko said. He also praised the stance of KDH, which he sees as a potential future coalition partner for SNS. Currently, the governing coalition comprises SNS, the original Smer-SD, and Voice-SD, a breakaway party from Smer-SD. „They have twenty-year-old ties and relationships,” said Danko, adding that he would welcome one more stable partner in the current coalition. Former president Zuzana Caputova (2019-24) had criticised the amendment, arguing it will always carry a label of controversy for presenting people different from the majority as a threat. Danko responded: „If we want to protect ourselves from Brussels, we must enshrine everything in the Constitution.” He insisted that the amendment does not aim to harm the LGBTI community. „No one is against helping homosexual couples in terms of cohabitation, access to medical records, or inheritance matters. But it must be said that everything has its limits,” Danko stated, adding that even the LGBTI community should recognise these boundaries. „When someone starts to identify as a cat or an animal and then demands marriage – that is perverse,” he claimed. Danko also criticised some visuals from LGBTI parades as unacceptable. „To see a man on a leash, barking, dressed in leather latex – forgive me, but there must still be some human dignity. That’s why I am proud that our Constitution will be among the first in the world to clearly define that there is a man and a woman, and that this cannot be changed,” Danko summarised. Parliament has also definitively approved a package of fiscal consolidation measures for next year. „I’m not a supporter of consolidation, but it is a political necessity,” Danko said. He blamed the need for consolidation on mismanagement of Slovak finances during the 2020–2023 era. As of next year, sole traders and other individuals will no longer be subject to the transaction tax. The amendment to the Financial Transaction Tax Act was submitted by SNS MPs. Danko described its approval as a coalition compromise. „If I had won the election, I would do many things differently than (Prime Minister) Robert Fico. I would abolish the transaction tax and many government offices – but certainly not the Ministry of Sport and Tourism,” he added. According to Danko, the ministry’s budget is significantly smaller than that of the Presov regional authority, and most of it goes directly to sport and tourism. In response to opposition party Freedom and Solidarity's (SaS) consideration of calling a general strike in Slovakia, Danko pointed out the party's own programme includes the abolition of trade unions. „(SaS chair Branislav) Groehling is only meeting them for show,” Danko concluded, adding that he'd always met with trade union representatives, including during his tenure as parliamentary chair (2016-20). mf