Special House Session on Simecka's Dismissal Starts on Thursday Morning

Bratislava, September 12 (TASR) - A special parliamentary session to deal with a proposal to dismiss Michal Simecka (Progressive Slovakia/PS) from the House vice-chair post, which was initiated by MPs from the governing Smer-SD and the Slovak National Party (SNS), started on Thursday morning. Parliament will discuss the proposal until the absolute end of the debate, i.e. even after 7 p.m. if necessary. Voting on the proposal will be held as the next vote of the ongoing regular session. The proposal to dismiss Simecka was tabled on September 5. The coalition MPs want to see him dismissed due to the use of state subsidies by people close to the PS chief and suspicions of manipulation in the allocation of subsidies. They also accuse him of organising protests against the leadership of the Culture and Justice Ministries, from which, they allege, Simecka's family is losing its financial backing. Simecka views the proposal for his dismissal as revenge for his carrying out his opposition job well. He's rejected the criticism, maintaining that Premier Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) attacks on him and his family are a distraction from Slovakia's real problems. He pointed out that all the foundations and civil associations mentioned by Fico and the coalition were drawing subsidies long before he entered politics. ko/df