Member of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic Samuel Migaľ (Voice-SD) grossly violated the coalition agreement with his attitude during the vote on government amendments from the workshop of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. This follows from the statement of the Deputy Chairman of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic and the leader of the SNS coalition, Andrej Danek. He also invited Migaľ to participate in next week’s meeting with representatives of sports unions.
“In addition to the fact that MP Migaľ blocked the meeting of the NR SR, he grossly violated the coalition agreement. According to the coalition agreement, it is not possible for any MP of any party to do so. No one affects the freedom to vote. I want to say once again that we do not have the right or do not want to somehow influence any member of parliament, but we have the right to say that if it goes through the legislative process and the parliamentary clubs have no reservations about it, then we expected this law to pass,” he noted at Thursday’s press conference.
Danko also commented on the argument of Migaľ, who did not present himself during the vote on the amendment to the Sports Act and objected that his amendment proposal was not accepted. The head of the nationalists pointed out that the deputy did not officially submit any amendment proposal. “Unofficially, he sent our lawyer a proposal that is socially dangerous,” he pointed out. He pointed out that Migaľ’s proposal should have included funding requirements from the Sports Support Fund for civic associations that are close to people from his neighborhood.
According to his own words, Danko communicated with Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Hlasu-SD leader Matúš Šutaj Eštok about the voting situation. “I appreciate Šutaj Eštok’s approach. I had a dialogue with him and I must say that I honestly saw that he was desperate for Migaľ,” he concluded. He believes that the parliament will approve the draft amendments to the Sports Act and the amendments to the Sports Support Fund in next week’s vote. “It is not a law of the CIS. This is a law demanded by the sports community,” he added.
Together with the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Dušan Keketi (SNS nominee) and the State Secretary of the Department, Ján Krišand, they pointed out the benefits of the proposed adjustments for sports. Keketi declared his willingness to discuss the legislation next week as well. “This is the historically best chance to increase the entire funding for sports and to move sports to a completely different level, so we will approach constructively even in this very exceptional situation, but I believe and I am still optimistic that the law will pass and will be valid from January 1.” he added.
Migaľ appreciated that the vote was postponed until next week, thus creating space for further negotiations. “I think that the package of money that was obtained for sports and athletes at the time of austerity and belt-tightening is a very worthy activity, but I will really be very happy if this money does not end up in concrete, but where it should belong, and that is in sports,” he added.
According to him, legislators should vote according to their best knowledge and conscience. “I think it is our duty to work and improve the legislation,” he added. He pointed out that he wanted to work on the sports amendments. “I wasn’t allowed to do it,” he said. He declared that his proposals for legislation were on the table of the Minister of Sports. Statements that the chairman of Hlasu-SD should have reprimanded him for his position during the vote , called it speculation.
Deputies are to vote on draft amendments to the Sports Support Fund Act and the Sports Act on Thursday, December 5. Originally, they were supposed to be decided on Wednesday (November 27). Before the vote on the amendment to the Sports Act, however, not enough deputies were present in the hall. There were less than 76 of them. Migaľ did not present himself during the given vote. He objected that his amendment was not accepted. According to him, the legislation still needs to be specified.
