Opposition and government representatives have only agreed on the fact that financial consolidation is necessary, but they have different views on how to save, with the opposition not knowing where it would obtain the necessary €2.7 billion, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told a news conference following his meeting with opposition representatives on Tuesday.
"The fact that the gentlemen came confirms that they are aware that consolidation is a must. Mr. Simecka [PS] even said that he's aware of the condition in which we found public finances in 2023. What we are doing today is the homework left to us by the previous government," stated the premier.
"The second conclusion that emerges from this meeting is that there are different views on how to put this €2.7 billion together. Okay - if the gentlemen in the opposition want to see the salaries of MPs and cabinet members frozen, we are ready to do it," said Fico, adding that it would resolve absolutely nothing, however, as it would bring a mere €2 million into the state budget.
Fico also criticised other measures proposed by the opposition, such as 20-percent cost savings at the ministries, or reducing staff numbers at offices. "We can save perhaps €100 million in total via a radical reduction of employees in this state," said the premier, adding that a tax on financial transactions is definitely essential, as it will bring €600 million into the state budget.
"They have absolutely no idea where they would obtain €2.7 billion. So, the only concrete measure I can announce today is that they are demanding that the salaries of MPs and cabinet members should be frozen, which I agree with. I have absolutely no problem with that," said Fico.
PS leader Michal Simecka came to the meeting with a call that has several points. "First, the premier should clearly say what the final form of consolidation will be. It is distasteful to all people who are concerned about what will happen next year that after months and months they are still unable to tell them what will actually be approved," he said.
According to Simecka, the premier should mainly seek savings on running the state. Otherwise, 95 percent of the consolidation will be paid by the public. "We even told the premier specific things that ministers should do to achieve long-term savings. However, there was no answer, no response as to how they would do it or whether they want to do it at all. Quite the opposite, they only want to take money from people in the form of increased VAT," added Simecka.
KDH came to the meeting with five measures that would save the state budget €2.7 billion, said its chairman Milan Majersky. "We, naturally, passed them to the premier. We'll see if they take anything from it. Anyway, we prepared our measures on the basis of an expert group led by our economic expert Jozef Hajko really well, professionally and substantively," stated Majersky.
Hajko noted that KDH has a big problem with the consolidation package. "The reason is that the philosophy submitted by the government, which is saving mainly via the public, is not changing in any significant way, and we don't see any great willingness on the part of the state to affect itself," explained Majersky.
The opposition SaS party held a news conference on Tuesday to state that it views the Premier’s invitation to discuss the consolidation of public finances to be a sham and hypocritical. They added that SaS doesn't want to hold discussions with Fico behind closed doors. It will present its objections to the consolidation package publicly in Parliament.
The opposition's 'Slovakia' party considers Fico's meeting with representatives of the opposition to be a theatrical display, 'Slovakia' leader Igor Matovic declared at a press conference on Tuesday and added that he's honoured Fico didn't invite him to the roundtable. Matovic considers the consolidation measures unveiled by the Government to be cynical. "In February, at a session of the Government, they passed higher salaries for themselves - higher by 5,000 and more euros in net sums - and a few months later, at the same session, in the same room, they voted to take away €500 on average from every person's pocket," added Matovic, who plans to submit to Parliament a motion to scrap this year's salary hike for the Government members.
Source: TASR
