Danko: Slovak National Party to Have New Members

Bratislava, February 18 (TASR) - The coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) is set to expand, SNS leader and House Vice-chair Andrej Danko told a press conference on Tuesday, adding that they are receiving new members, namely some MPs from the SNS caucus who aren't members of the party. "For the time being, I know of two or three MPs from the parliamentary caucus who should be members of the SNS. I've also approached Mr [Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter] Kotlar, who said that he doesn't want to join any political party. [Culture] Minister [Martina] Simkovicova (an SNS nominee) said that she needs to think about it," said Danko. The SNS leader pointed out that party membership doesn't bind people to anything. "A party booklet is not a guarantee of loyalty. Even in 2020, Robert Fico had Peter Pellegrini and dozens of MPs on the slate, and they left. Also, Ms [Martina] Holeckova from the KDH left," he said, adding that unless there is an imperative mandate, such problems will happen. He also declared that he will never put a person on the slate who is not an SNS member and won't be verified. "If I'm going to make coalition agreements, I'll only make them with political parties," he emphasised. am/mcs