PS: Premier Has Minority Government, Can't Use Coalition Partners as Excuse

Bratislava, 4 November (TASR) - Slovakia has a minority government with 75 MPs in Parliament, and we're facing a wasted year, a time of political corruption, stated leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party Michal Simecka in response to comments made by Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Wednesday. According to Simecka, Fico shouldn't use his coalition partners as an excuse, given that he's the head of the coalition government. "Slovakia has Robert Fico's minority government, which holds 75 seats. That's an indisputable fact, and it will likely remain so until the next general election in 2027. At the same time, we have a government that is losing its authority at an extremely rapid pace, not only here, in Parliament, but also among people and voters," he told a press conference on Wednesday. According to him, the fact that the premier will be negotiating with individual Independent MPs regarding support for bills amounts to haggling over "deals or other posts". The PS leader also criticised the prime minister, who, he claims, has admitted that the government no longer has any major legislative plans. "They no longer want to work for people; they don't want to address how to kick-start economic growth, how to ease the burden on businesses, how to ease the burden on employees, or how to reduce fuel prices, which are at record highs," he stated, adding that the coalition's sole concern is to stay in power until the election in September next year. He therefore expects a wasted year. In his view, the premier is responsible for keeping the coalition and the government running, and if he fails to do so, he shouldn't blame his coalition partners. "I understand that he'll now try to shift the blame onto everyone else, but this is the result of him allowing himself to be blackmailed over the past two years by every single one of those MPs," he stated. Simecka believes that opposition MPs are aware of their responsibility in this situation and will attend votes to ensure that bills doesn't pass without a coalition majority simply because of a reduced number of MPs in the chamber. "On behalf of Progressive Slovakia, I can say quite unequivocally that when it comes to important votes - all the votes that matter to us - we'll be there to ensure that no bill is passed due to a reduced quorum, even if it doesn't have the support of a majority, i.e. 76 MPs. That is the opposition's absolute duty," he stated. Earlier on Wednesday, Fico stated that it's the duty of the government and Parliament to do everything possible to complete the current electoral term, while greater attention will need to be paid to individual MPs when discussing which bills will or won't be passed. He said that Smer-SD's parliamentary caucus is stable, whereas its coalition partners SNS and Voice-SD are responsible for the current situation concerning the parliamentary majority, as they've failed in the process of drawing up their slates and their caucuses have fallen apart. am/df