Sulik: We're Ready to Govern, But I Don't Know with Whom

Bratislava, July 9 (TASR) – Opposition liberal party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) is ready to assume responsibility for Slovakia, govern honestly and with a clear goal – for the country to catch up more rapidly with Western Europe in terms of living standards, party chief Richard Sulik has stated in a video message on Facebook.

Sulik was reviewing the first half of 2017 in terms of his own party. He admitted that he doesn’t have a clear notion of who should be SaS’s coalition partners, however.

“I admit that I don’t know. I don’t know it now, and I might not know it in a year. But it isn’t such a significant question before a general election. Doing our homework and being ready is what matters,” said Sulik, adding that the number of people who could end up voting for his liberal party isn’t limited.

As for the first six months of 2017, Sulik said that everything went according to plan. “We were the only party to present [a plan for] EU reform. We were the only party to present a vision for Slovakia and a notion of what this country should look like if it had an honest and suitable government. We built up our regional structures. Apart from our 180 members and more than 6,000 Friends of Freedom, we now have representations in every district town,” said Sulik.

Political analyst Jan Baranek told TASR that SaS feels a certain amount of animosity towards Boris Kollar’s party We Are Family. Meanwhile, it’s uncertain whether another possible coalition partner for SaS – the Christian Democrats (KDH) – will return to Parliament.

“There are more questions. For example, concerning OLaNO-NOVA after the disappearance of [party chairman] Igor Matovic. The political scene is being formed, it seems to be redefining, with new parties set to emerge before the general election,” said the analyst.