Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini met with the Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko on Thursday due to concerns regarding the recall of the Police Corps President Tibor Gašpar. Andrej Danko objected to the way coalition partners had learnt about the change to this post. As he said, they learnt about it through the media. The Speaker of Parliament said on Wednesday that his party would invite Pellegrini to discuss their attitudes to governance-related issues. However, he added that there were no quarrels within the governing trio about the appointment of a new police chief and that the coalition was functioning normally.
"There might have been a misunderstanding or a feeling of being insufficiently informed, but the talks were friendly, constructive and professional. I assured the Slovak National Party (SNS) that my priority was to meet the Government Manifesto. I assured the SNS that I didn't intend to revise or change the direction of Slovakia's foreign-political orientation, which is clearly pro-European. I gave assurances that we wouldn't even change our attitude towards our eastern neighbours because Slovakia must have correct relations towards the East as well," stated the Prime Minister.
According to Pellegrini, what happened between the Slovak National Party and him was down to the speed of developments. Andrej Danko added that they were cooperating and have to learn to cooperate. According to him, the two sides spoke about improving communication also with regard to the upcoming municipal elections. Pellegrini also thinks that it is worth asking what attitude the coalition will adopt to this year's municipal elections.
The other junior governing party, Most-Hid, did not agree with the Slovak National Party's criticism of Pellegrini. "We don't see any shifts in the governing coalition on major political issues," said Most-Hid in a statement.
