Malatinec: I Didn't Understand Premier's Remarks; Smer-SD Launches Campaign

Bratislava, 4 November (TASR) - Smer-SD has launched its political campaign as of today, with its leader and Prime Minister Robert Fico attacking an MP who supported the government's bills, MP Roman Malatinec (Independent) said in response to Fico's press statement, adding that he intends to wait until "heads have cooled down"; until then, he refuses to sit down at the negotiating table with coalition representatives. Malatinec considers Fico's statement to be laughable and populist. "The Smer party has clearly entered the pre-election battle. And I don't quite understand why he attacked me personally in this way, because I still consider myself to be a government MP," he told journalists in Parliament. "It was an attack on a government MP who supported the legislation, and I really don't understand it. So once they've had time to cool down, we'll happily sit down at the negotiating table, but for now I refuse to meet with them," he added. According to the MP, he asked for nothing more than for the parliamentary proceedings to continue. He doesn't understand why the prime minister is "launching a distasteful attack" on an MP who approved the state budget for him. "Yesterday, at the coalition council meeting, I told them - please, let's carry on, let's go through it point by point, let's hold discussions in Parliament. I don't know what they were afraid of," 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. Malatinec was elected to Parliament on the Voice-SD slate; he later left both the parliamentary caucus and the party, and became a member of the extra-parliamentary Rural Party. On Tuesday (3 November), he announced that he was joining the political project led by former Environment Minister Tomas Taraba. On Wednesday, the premier commented on Malatinec's move, saying, "we don't know what his fourth stop will be; we'll have to wait and see if there will even be such a stop". am