Monitor: Fico: Coalition Has 78 MPs, I'd Work with Ferencak

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', 21 March) Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated that the coalition currently has 78 MPs and added that he would continue to work with MP Jan Ferencak (independent), who'd been expelled from the coalition party Voice-SD, describing his departure as a loss. Fico did not rule out that developments could occur which would force changes in the allocation of the state posts. "This is a major lesson for the future, and I say this to everyone. Please — ladies and gentlemen, friends — do not put on candidate lists people whom you think are brilliant. They may be brilliant, but they will never be loyal. Loyalty is the first basic prerequisite for the stability of parliamentary caucuses," Fico added. The prime minister also reiterated that no law obliges the government to request a vote of confidence in Parliament within a specific deadline due to public debt. He expects the Constitutional Court to instruct the government to seek confidence. "Wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court will probably tell us that we must request it. But I need to know what the deadline is for doing so," he said. mf