Danko: Pellegrini Should Stop Being Coward and Send Aircraft to Iraq

Bratislava, January 5 (TASR) – Parliamentary Chair and Slovak National Party (SNS) head Andrej Danko late on Saturday night called on Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) “not to be a coward” and to send the Slovak government aircraft to Iraq in order to fetch the seven Slovak soldiers deployed there.

Danko was reacting to Pellegrini’s statement shortly beforehand that the plane is ready to withdraw the soldiers at any time.

“I regret to see that both Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini and President Zuzana Caputova have underestimated the situation. I called on them [on Saturday] to react, and both of them opted for lukewarm political phrases and a buck-passing approach. The situation in the Middle East is escalating, and the lives of our soldiers could be in danger, but the prime minister, as usual, suddenly changes his attitude. He says that he’s ready to send the aircraft for our soldiers. This is so typical of him. Peter Pellegrini always ends up as a coward and buck-passer,” stated Danko, who called on the Government to act immediately instead of waiting for Parliament to adopt a resolution on withdrawing the soldiers.

“I call on the prime minister finally to act like a man, to take action like the prime minister should and to send the government aircraft for our soldiers immediately. I regret that Peter Pellegrini always acts according to what PR agencies tell him. At the same time I’ve asked the defence minister to monitor the situation and to ask the prime minister to convene a meeting of the security council. Please, let’s not wait for a greater misfortune to take place,” stated Danko.