The leader of the SNS coalition, Andrej Danko, thinks that the election of the president should be returned to the hands of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic. According to him, the current model causes tension in society. He also spoke about the situation in the coalition. He is afraid that the current situation will not lead to a debate that the elections to the NR SR could be combined with the municipal elections that are to be held next year. He pointed out the growing tension between the Hlas-SD and Smer-SD coalition parties. This follows from Danko’s statement in the Sunday discussion show Politika 24 on Joj 24.
- Andrej Danko suggested moving the presidential election to the National Council of the Slovak Republic.
- He sees tension between the Hlas-SD and Smer-SD coalition parties.
- He criticized the president for vetoing the law on the transformation of the ÚOO.
- He appealed to change the rules of procedure of the parliament in order to ease the tension.
- He supports the reduction of levies for employees and self-employed people next year.
“Probably only a naive person can think that Robert Fico forgave Peter Pellegrini for betraying him. When the government was being formed, I felt the tension between the Voice and the Direction. Now Fico feels that the Voice is not fulfilling the duties of its departments, various cases are emerging.” stated Danko.
He repeatedly criticized several actions of the head of state Petr Pellegrini. He regrets that the president is not on the side of the coalition, since he would not be president without it. He also blamed him for vetoing the law regarding the transformation of the Whistleblower Protection Office (ÚOO) into a new office. “I can bear an enemy like Korčok in the Presidential Palace more easily than a person who pretends to be our friend and stabs us in the back,” he stated.
Danko also responded to this week’s events in parliament during the vote on the amendment to the Criminal Code and the negotiations on the vetoed law on the transformation of the ÚOO. He thinks that the head of state added fuel to the fire by returning the legislation for renegotiation. He criticized the behavior of opposition MPs. However, he also apologized to the people for the reaction of some coalition members. “The atmosphere was crazy. If I were the speaker of the parliament, I will not allow that vote, I will stop it,” he pointed out.
In light of the incident, he appealed to change the rules of procedure. He thinks that the parliament should deal with the adjustment right at the beginning of the next session, which is scheduled to start on January 27. “If we want to calm society down, we have to change the rules of procedure,” he stated. He also regrets that at the last meeting they did not deal with matters related to social support for people.
Economic topics were also discussed. Danko welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) that next year the levies could be reduced for certain categories of employees. According to him, it was a reminder of the SNS and he is glad that the Prime Minister listened to it. “We and the self-employed are now dealing with the adoption of a tax and levy reduction by July 1,” he added. He also announced that next year he will propose the expansion of recreation vouchers for smaller companies as well.
