Madaric: No Political Plans Behind Joint Proposal with Poliacik
Bratislava, May 28 (TASR) – There is no need to see any further political intentions behind a joint proposal concerning the election of the general director of public broadcaster Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) that I submitted along with Independent MP Martin Poliacik, former culture minister Marek Madaric (Smer-SD) told journalists on Monday.
Poliacik joined the extra-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia party, and Madaric was asked whether Progressive Slovakia could be attractive for him as well. “I refuse to draw any far-reaching political scenarios of this character out of that [proposal],” he said, adding that he joined the proposal because Poliacik approached him with an offer to submit a proposal that Madaric had worked on as a minister.
According to Madaric, there’s nothing strange about the fact that he as a coalition MP submitted the proposal along with Poliacik, who used to be part of the Opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and who mainly votes against coalition proposals. “The Opposition and coalition discuss various laws, so I don’t feel like a rare case,” he said, adding that he doesn’t see much chance for the joint bill to pass in Parliament, but he wants to launch a debate in this regard at least.
Poliacik and Madaric in their proposal state that the RTVS general director should be elected by a new special body – an assembly of electors – instead of by legislators in Parliament, as is the case at the moment. This would exclude political influence from the vote, they added.
The bill should be debated at the session in June.
