Debate that House chair post should be held by someone else closed for Hlas-SD

The discussion that the House chair post should belong to someone else is closed for Hlas-SD, party leader and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok told a news conference on Tuesday.

Sutaj Estok stressed that the party honours the coalition agreement and that distribution of powers in Parliament has not changed in any way since the general election. "For Hlas-SD, it is a closed discussion that the House chair post should be held by someone else just because he wishes so," stated Sutaj Estok.

"Hlas-SD voters would never forgive us if we, despite their support, gave up responsibility for the second most senior constitutional post in the country, leaving it to someone based on their personal wish or an assumed moral claim," he said.

According to Sutaj Estok, meeting the goals from the government manifesto is only possible if all coalition partners consider fulfilling the coalition program as their priority. Hard times can only be handled if coalition representatives do not put their own interests above the interests of the government. "It's unacceptable to bring further conflicts into the already polarised Slovak society, as it reduces people's trust in the government and its ability to address their real problems," stated the minister.

Sutaj Estok added that partners at the Coalition Council meeting on Monday (September 9) agreed to move some bills from the current session, to continue discussing them and only then submitting them to Parliament. "We will insist that they comply with the coalition agreement, and if the coalition agreement is not respected, Hlas-SD is ready to limit its political activity to the implementation of the government manifesto," he said.

SNS leader and Parliamentary Vice-Chair Andrej Danko said that he expects its coalition partner to be more understanding of the political compromise on the issue of the post of House chair.  "With the election of Peter Pellegrini as president, the political situation has changed, but the new colleagues from the Hlas-SD leadership must also understand that politics is also about compromise," pointed out Danko in response to Tuesday's statements by Hlas-SD.

The SNS leader stated that the situation in Parliament has changed with Pellegrini's election, claiming that Smer-SD is also leaning towards the SNS view. "SNS has the unequivocal support of Smer and Hlas still claims that the situation hasn't changed, even though they have the President," said Danko, pointing to Fico's words that "he sees it in such a way that either Andrej Danko will be the House chair or Peter Ziga [Hlas-SD] will remain at the helm of Parliament". Danko assured that the coalition will surely find a compromise. "I must say, however, that Smer's position in terms of parliamentary chair is very decisive for us," added the SNS chief.

The post of parliamentary chair became vacant following Peter Pellegrini's victory in the presidential election in April. In line with the coalition agreement, the post belongs to Hlas-SD, but SNS has claimed it as well.

Source: TASR