Monitor: Danko Sees No Reason to Open House Session on Taraba's Ouster

(TA3,'V politike', 31 May) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko stated that he sees no reason to open a House session on the ouster of Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (an SNS nominee), slated for Monday (1 June). His opposite number, Progressive Slovakia (PS) leader Michal Simecka, insisted that Taraba should not remain in office. "Politically, I do not see a reason to open the session tomorrow, because it's always important, within the coalition agreement, to sit down properly with the prime minister. The prime minister has the strongest authority, also under the Constitution," Danko remarked. Simecka, by contrast, maintained that Taraba should be removed. "He should not be environment minister. Not because of any disputes with Mr. Danko, but because he's endangering Slovak nature and hundreds of millions of euros from the Recovery Plan," he warned. Danko also acknowledged that one possible replacement for Taraba could be current Deputy Environment Minister Filip Kuffa. "Yes, one of the names being mentioned is Mr. Kuffa, and that will happen on 30 September," the SNS leader said. Danko underlined that any government reshuffle was in the hands of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), and conceded that he would replace several ministers, if he had the power to do so. Simecka said he did not care whether the government was reshuffled, as, in his view, the entire cabinet needs to go. Among other issues, he criticised circumstances surrounding the construction of a new hospital in Presov. Danko sees no reason to dismiss Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD). "If Robert Kalinak were to fall for any reason, the government would fall, because there's no political figure closer to Robert Fico than Robert Kalinak. They are like twins," he noted. The discussion also touched on a proposed constitutional amendment intended to prevent same-sex couples who married abroad from seeking recognition of their marriages in Slovak registry offices. "We support the state recognising, in some form, ideally through registered partnerships, the unions of couples, including same-sex couples, because that exists throughout Europe," Simecka said. However, he does not believe the constitutional amendment has a chance of passing. In this context, Danko expressed concern about the gradual expansion of legislation. "If we accept same-sex unions, then we must give them equal rights and we'll have to allow them to adopt minor children. I maintain that a child cannot be adopted into a homosexual union because the child cannot defend itself, and I want to protect the child. (...) The problem is that legislation advances step by step — it's a slippery slope — and then they'll have the right to adopt minor children, too," he said. mf