OLaNO-NOVA: We Won't Back Governmen't Manifesto in Parliament

OLaNO-NOVA: We Won't Back Governmen't Manifesto in Parliament

Bratislava, April 26 (TASR) – Even though the Government wants to develop independent bodies to analyse issues and advise it on how to spend public money more effectively, this isn’t enough for Opposition party OLaNO-NOVA to back the Government Manifesto in Parliament, MP Veronika Remisova said on Tuesday.

The initiative on setting up such analysis departments was promoted by the late senior Finance Ministry analyst Martin Filko, along with economists Stefan Kiss and Ludovit Odor.

However, Remisova also praised the Government for a commitment to publish all significant documents. “I recall the problems with publishing the analysis into constructing the PPP Bratislava bypass, which appeared to be overpriced. Martin Filko and his team eventually also calculated that the PPP bypass was overpriced by €1 billion,” said Remisova.

Meanwhile, Remisova bemoaned the fact that the Opposition is currently unable to supervise Government spending properly. “Opposition MPs actually can’t file any motion with the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) – neither as individuals, nor groups … The Government Manifesto doesn’t tackle this problem at all. If the Coalition (Smer-SD, SNS, Most-Hid and Siet) is serious with its statements on conferring supervisory powers to the Opposition, this is one of the things that need to be addressed,” said Remisova.

Although the Manifesto contains several positive features, OLaNO-NOVA won’t support it. “Trustworthy people are needed in order to achieve good goals. Nevertheless, there are no trustworthy people in key posts, mainly when it comes to combatting corruption,” said Remisova.

Party leader Igor Matovic, for his part, claims that Most-Hid and Siet fooled their voters before the general election by pretending to be Smer’s opponents, while after the vote they joined a Smer-led governing coalition.

“If I voted for the Manifesto, I’d legitimise the fraud you committed on voters. You threw away your promises, making what appeared to be better for your pockets instead,” said Matovic.