Danko: Session on Taraba's Ouster Pointless, Issue Resolved Week Ago

Bratislava, 1 June (TASR) - The opposition's attempt to dismiss Environment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) is pointless, as the issue was resolved a week ago, SNS leader and House Vice-chair Andrej Danko told reporters on Monday following a failed attempt to open a special parliamentary session on Taraba's ouster. According to him, the situation between SNS and Taraba isn't one about a conflict, but about responsibility on the part of the minister. "They are wasting time for nothing; they know that they don't have the votes," stated Danko, describing the session as embarrassing for the opposition and as a show of childishness by Progressive Slovakia (PS). "Because what they have proposed now is completely pointless, as they've known for a week that it's been resolved," said Danko, adding that the issue isn't about having a good relationship with Taraba. "These are relationships that are necessary to keep the coalition running, but it's not about whether there are good relations between him and me," remarked the SNS leader. "The take away for Tomas Taraba is to complete major projects, such as the zoning plan, responsibly, as well as Slovalco [aluminium plant] and many other things. This is about responsibility; it's not about the relationship between Andrej Danko and the deputy prime minister. I only pulled the handbrake the moment I learned that SNS was being held responsible for many things, even though that's not the case," added Danko. Over the weekend, Danko said that given the coalition agreement, he saw no reason "politically" to open the special parliament session. Even during the second attempt earlier on Monday, MPs failed to initiate a special parliamentary session regarding the motion to dismiss Taraba, as Parliament lacked a quorum, with only 62 MPs present in the chamber. Danko subsequently announced that MPs will attempt to open the session again on Tuesday (2 June) morning. Taraba's ouster was initiated by PS, which criticised him for failures in managing the ministry and in preparing the proposed zoning plan for national parks. The opposition also stated that Taraba has lost the confidence of both SNS as the coalition party that nominated him, and his closest colleagues at the Environment Ministry. A week ago, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said that if political trust between SNS and Taraba isn't restored by the end of September 2026, there will be a personnel change at the level of minister. At the same time, Taraba announced that if no agreement is reached with SNS by that time, he'll step down from his post. jrg/df