The Slovakian Movement and the For the People party called on Slovak President Petr Pellegrini at Wednesday’s press conference to dismiss the director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) Pavel Gašpar. At the same time, they ask the president to ensure a solution to the current political situation through early elections or the formation of an official government.
The leader of the Slovakia movement and member of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic, Igor Matovič, justified the call by saying that according to him, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) threatens the functioning of the entire country. “We therefore want to call on the president, in the spirit of his basic authority ensured the proper functioning of constitutional bodies,” declared Matovič.
Opposition MPs also drew attention to the alleged misuse of security forces to monitor civil activists. “Tibor Gašpar, the vice-chairman of the NR SR, admitted that the secret report we listened to in the parliament was based on wiretapping, which in practice means that the secret service and security forces are eavesdropping and monitoring the opposition,” added Veronika Remišová, chairperson of the For the People party and member of the NR SR.
According to her, this is a massive violation of human rights and the constitutional right of citizens to assemble. She called on the European Commission and other European institutions to take steps to ensure that the rights of Slovak citizens are respected by using all available means.
The extraordinary session of the parliament on the opposition’s motion of no confidence in the government continued in secret on Tuesday (January 21), because Fico submitted a report on it containing classified facts. SIS subsequently informed that it had received “serious information about long-term organized influence, the purpose of which is the destabilization of the Slovak Republic”. She gave consent to inform the deputies.
Opposition MPs described the report as absurd, containing delusions and information that can be easily found on the web or social networks. After Wednesday’s visit to the SIS headquarters, Peter Pellegrini requests the convening of the Security Council of the Slovak Republic.
