Kalinak: There's No Time for No-confidence Motions during Current House Session

Bratislava, 10 December (TASR) - Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) said after the government session on Wednesday that there's no time for no-confidence motions during the current parliamentary session, while Education Minister (Voice-SD) Tomas Drucker is convinced that motions to dismiss government members shouldn't be hindered by obstructions, TASR reported on the same day. Kalinak sees no problem in communication among coalition partners on how to approach the opposition's motions for no-confidence in ministers or the government. "The opposition has 71 MPs, and during the last attempt, only 35 to 40 turned up. When they start coming to work, we will start respecting them. These are all things they want to post on Facebook or use when speaking in front of TV cameras," said Kalinak. According to Drucker, the opposition "has the right to propose the ouster of government members, and such debates should take place in parliament". He added that an agreement has been reached by the coalition to adjourn the extraordinary sessions on no-confidence votes due to the need to complete the debate on some items on the agenda of the current regular parliamentary session. "However, we're not advocates of obstructions in this case and we also believe that a motion of confidence vote in the government in connection with the debt brake should be submitted to Parliament," added Drucker. According to him, Voice-SD will not withdraw the motion to dismiss MP Jan Ferencak (Voice-SD) as head of the House European affairs committee. He said this has been agreed within the coalition. "Our goal is not to weaken this coalition," stated Drucker, adding that Ferencak is a member of the Voice-SD party and that there's no reason why he shouldn't remain one. Parliament adjourned the debate on opposition's motions to dismiss ministers and the government as a whole to the next regular session, which is due to start on 27 January. MPs were supposed to start dealing with the motions on Wednesday afternoon. Several motions are being repeatedly adjourned from one session to another, including the one concerning Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) which was submitted in December 2024. jrg