SaS Lambasts Interior Minister Sutaj Estok, Plans to Seek His Ouster (2)

Bratislava, 20 April (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has criticised Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) for failing to perform his duties as minister, announcing that it will submit a motion for his dismissal with support from other opposition parties, SaS leader Branislav Groehling told a press conference on Monday. SaS leader also noted that he's written a letter to incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar with regard to comments that Magyar has made about illegal migration. "I've decided to write to the future Hungarian prime minister, Peter Magyar, asking him to elaborate on these claims in detail. If I receive any further information, I'll inform the public, and I also asked him for a meeting in the future," said Groehling. "However, all these facts confirm one thing – that Estok's deployment of police officers and soldiers at the borders after the election, with not a single migrant apprehended and all of it costing €1 million, was just a PR stunt staged by incompetent Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok. There have been numerous failings on Estok's part as interior minister, which is why we've decided to submit a motion for his removal," said Groehling. SaS MP Juraj Krupa added that the party has also approached other opposition parties, which have joined the initiative. "We have around 60 signatures, which is more than sufficient, and we're submitting the motion today," said Krupa, stating that Sutaj Estok has shown no ability to lead the ministry and has failed to achieve any results. "All that we're seeing is scandals, duties carried out in an incompetent manner, suspicions of profiteering, overpriced procurement, etc. And of course, we're witnessing the dismantling of the Police Corps," added Krupa. In response, Sutaj Estok told reporters that the opposition isn't capable of coming up with anything other than a motion for his dismissal. He also accused the opposition of offering no solutions or better vision for Slovakia and criticised the former government's approach to illegal migration. The interior minister also pointed a finger at ex-police president Stefan Hamran and former head of a caretaker government (2023) Ludovit Odor. "Upon taking office, we changed the approach to illegal migration. Unlike Mr Hamran from SaS and Mr Odor from Progressive Slovakia (PS), we were prepared to protect and guard our borders. That's why we took steps to ensure that the border with Hungary was guarded and protected," he said. "The facts and figures prove this. If you look at 2022 and 2023, there were 60,000 illegal migrants; looking at the situation since we took over, the trend is downwards just because we sent a clear signal that Slovakia isn't a safe transit country for illegal migrants, for their smugglers or for those who want to bring drugs, weapons or illegal ammunition into Slovakia," added the minister. In his statement, Magyar said that, unlike Hungary's current Premier Viktor Orban, he won't release 2,200 legally convicted migrant smugglers from Hungarian prisons. "We won't bring migrants to the Slovak border if that is the interests of our 'socialist friend' in the election campaign," added Magyar. NOTE: This story has been extended to include paragraphs 7 to 9 jrg/df