MPs Largely View Kiska's Speech as True to Reality
Bratislava, June 14 (TASR) – While President Andrej Kiska delivered his own perspective on where Slovakia stands, he sees things as they really are, several MPs concurred following Kiska’s State of the Republic address in Parliament on Wednesday.
On the other hand, governing Smer-SD party MP Dusan Jarjabek said that Kiska “had better appoint new Constitutional Court judges before delivering State of the Republic addresses”. Furthermore, in his reviewing Slovakia’s economic success, Kiska failed to mention who has made this success possible, said Jarjabek.
“I didn’t quite like the attack against the Interior Minister [Robert Kalinak] either,” said Jarjabek, noting that it appeared as though the president had taken a cue from the Opposition.
Opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Lubomir Galko said that Kiska’s speech had sat well with him. “It contained what I wanted it to contain. He denounced corruption and spoke about the ever deeper distrust dividing common people and politics as such,” said Galko, before adding that the president also succinctly named the cause of the divide – inequality before the law.
MP Karol Farkasovsky of the co-governing Slovak National Party (SNS) noted that he expects the speech to elicit a variety of reactions. “He described the state of the republic from his viewpoint. Some aspects merit deeper reflection, and I believe that his speech will be inspirational for society,” he said.
“His [Kiska’s] evaluation of the Slovak economic success caught my attention … it was fairly objective,” said Farkasovsky, before adding that while Kiska is entitled to present his own opinions, he should also look for and recommend solutions.
Opposition OLaNO-NOVA MP Alan Suchanek said that the takeaway message from Kiska’s address for him is that Slovakia is continuing to wrestle with corruption and injustice. “This time round, he dealt with the health care sector only in passing, but he did praise Health Minister Tomas Drucker (a Smer-SD nominee). He specifically singled out Drucker and Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska (Most-Hid) as those who are genuinely trying to change things, and I believe he was spot on,” said Suchanek.
‘We Are Family’ MP Milan Krajniak called Kiska’s speech “standard”. “He opened up issues that are of interest to him. What struck a chord with me was that he’d highlighted the gap between our economic performance and the salaries of employees in Slovakia,” said Krajniak.
He added that extremism is best tackled when citizens feel that the state ensures freedom, safety and a dignified life for them. That said, people are aware of social injustices and, as a consequence, vote for extremist parties such as LSNS, said Krajniak.
Most-Hid MP Peter Kresak recognised what he called Kiska’s principled attitude towards fascism. “He sees things for what they are. He described both the negatives and the positives,” said Kresak.
