Migal: I Was Ready to Defend IT Solutions Agenda during House Session (2)

Bratislava, 23 October (TASR) - Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation Minister Samuel Migal (Independent) said on Thursday that he was ready to defend the agenda in connection with a public procurement for supplying IT solutions for the slovensko.sk website, TASR reported after Parliament failed to open an extraordinary parliamentary session initiated by the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party aimed at dismissing the minister. "The sincerity of this entire dismissal effort is also demonstrated by the fact that even Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka wasn't present, so I take it as political show," said Migal. According MP Michal Bartek (Voice-SD), the coalition agreed that there was nothing special about the opposition's proposal to dismiss Migal, so coalition MPs chose not to attend. "We could dismiss Minister Migal today and open the door to government for Michal Simecka, who would probably succeed in a snap election caused by our own coalition foolishness, but I won't allow that. Nor is this what our voters expect," said Bartek, adding that in the case of any suspicions of criminal activity at the ministry, it is the job of the competent authorities to investigate them. Meanwhile, opposition MP Michal Truban (PS) criticised the coalition for not opening the session. "By refusing to open the session, the entire coalition has aligned itself with a non-transparent procurement and minister Migal's shady deals," he said. Opposition 'Slovakia'–For the People MP Veronika Remisova criticised the coalition for breaking the law and ignoring both the public and its elected representatives in Parliament. She described the failure to open the extraordinary parliamentary session as "hypocrisy", especially on the part of the coalition Voice-SD party, whose members had previously criticised Migal. "It has become clear that the suspicions surrounding Minister Migal are huge and that the tender might be tailored to a specific supplier," said Remisova, adding that informatisation in Slovakia is returning to the times when hundreds of millions of euros seemed to be poured into a black hole. Echoing her criticism, opposition MP Michal Sipos ('Slovakia'–For the People) stated that the government was turning Parliament into chaos, with coalition MPs skipping work and silencing the opposition. 'Slovakia' leader and former prime minister Igor Matovic said that both the coalition and opposition know about Migal's planned €100 million IT deal. According to Matovic, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has ordered MPs not to dismiss Migal in order to avoid toppling the entire government. NOTE: This story has been extended to include paragraphs 7-10 jrg/df