Opposition Parties Again File Proposal to Hold No-confidence Motion in Gov't

Bratislava, January 22 (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Christian Democrats (KDH) parties have again filed a proposal to hold a no-confidence motion in the government, their representatives told a news conference on Wednesday, adding that they've collected over 50 signatures from opposition MPs, this time without any from the 'Slovakia', 'For the People' and Christian Union caucus. They want to attempt to dismiss Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) again after there was no vote on the issue on Tuesday (January 21) and the session turned into a non-public one. "The governing coalition thwarted the session. Instead of defending itself in public, it hid itself by using the intelligence service for this," stated PS leader Michal Simecka, adding that nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of Slovakia. "I have been saying for a long time that Robert Fico and this government are abducting Slovakia away from Europe," he said. According to Simecka, the course of Tuesday's session was also an example of practices that do not belong in a normal civilised European democracy. He noted that arguments about the government's failures should have been heard at the special session. "This [the course of the session] mustn't become standard in the Slovak Parliament," stressed the PS leader, adding that the coalition avoided a vote, so it's unclear whether Fico's government has a majority or not. KDH leader Milan Majersky asked whether the premier was afraid that the opposition would publish things that he doesn't want to hear. KDH MP Frantisek Miklosko added that Fico is starting to pursue an authoritarian way of ruling. "We are calling on the government to stop being cowards, to stand before the public and to make out a bill," said SaS vice-chair Maria Kolikova. She criticised the government for its failure to take measures to make the country safe. ko/df