Opposition Criticises Coalition for Making House Inquorate

Bratislava, January 29 (TASR) - The opposition has slammed the coalition for not allowing Parliament to convene a special emergency session on Wednesday with a no-confidence motion in the government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD), calling it an act of cowardice and a display of arrogance of power. "I'm quite saddened that the public won't get to hear arguments that should have been stated in the debate on the no-confidence motion in the government. Instead, the government thwarted the first session by misusing the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS), and this time it didn't even bother to open the current session," said PS leader Michal Simecka, who spoke about several failures of the cabinet. Simecka plans to consult the fellow opposition parties on the next course of action. "This item has been rescheduled to a regular session, but we don't know when that will be held because this coalition doesn't even know if and when it will have the 76 lawmakers required for Parliament to deliberate in the first place. Based on future developments, we'll decide whether or not to do this again," he said. This sentiment was shared by the Christian Democrats (KDH), with KDH caucus vice-chair Marian Caucik pointing out that the session was scheduled for Wednesday, when the government also regularly convenes. "I view the mass apology by the Smer, Voice and SNS caucuses for not attending this session as ridiculous," he stated, underlining that serious matters are at stake. Caucik finds the conduct of the coalition to be a display of arrogance of power and a show of contempt for parliamentary democracy. 'Slovakia' leader Igor Matovic also didn't take kindly to the absence of coalition lawmakers. "They don't come to work, they're on paid vacation earning €6,000 per month and they don't bother to come to work. It's about time their voters started asking them why they're avoiding responsibility in a cowardly manner and receiving their salaries for nothing," he said. mf/df