Matovic Wants to Talk with Groehling, Expects 'Revolution 2027' to Be Respected
Bratislava, 20 October (TASR) - Leader of the opposition 'Slovakia' party Igor Matovic has called on opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) to respect the fact that the 'Slovakia' party will be guided by the demands of voters as set out in the 'Revolution 2027' ('Prevrat 2027') project, TASR has learnt from Matovic himself at a press conference on Tuesday in connection with a forthcoming meeting with SaS chairman Branislav Groehling.
The party launched the project a year ago and promised that the results of the survey will form the conditions for its support of any future government. According to Matovic, 'Slovakia' has accepted SaS' invitation to discuss the country's future. It wants the meeting to take place in a broader format.
"After three years, SaS has finally grasped the basics of maths. Until now, together with Progressive Slovakia (PS), they have been pushing us out of the political scene and convincing people that they can defeat [Premier] Robert Fico [Smer-SD] even without us. Today, they have clearly realised that the reality is different. We welcome this change of stance and are ready to extend a hand in cooperation," stated Matovic, adding that he doesn't want this to be merely a meeting between party leaders, but for three representatives from both 'Slovakia' and SaS to meet and hold proper negotiations.
Matovic pointed out that, following the other opposition parties' refusal to cooperate, the 'Slovakia' party decided to go its own way and launched the 'Revolution 2027' project, in which people themselves decide on specific solutions. "We've made a public pledge to the people that the solutions they vote for will be our non-negotiable condition when forming the future government. If SaS now wants to persuade us to throw this pledge in the bin, we'll never agree to that. We won't betray our voters," he stressed.
As part of the 'Revolution 2027' project, people have so far voted in favour of eleven specific measures. These include halving politicians' salaries if they run up debt for Slovakia, an increase in child benefit to €100, a maximum 30-day waiting period for surgery, mandatory alcohol and drug testing for MPs, and the scrapping of statute of limitation periods for murder, rape and the sexual abuse of minors. All the solutions are available on the prevrat2027.sk website. Matovic asks Groehling whether he has any objections to these proposals.
The 'Slovakia' party leader also emphasised that a refusal to back down on public commitments doesn't mean a refusal to cooperate. On the contrary, according to him, the party is prepared to negotiate further measures that Slovakia needs. "We're prepared to extend a hand to SaS and work together to prepare Slovakia for life after Fico. But let no one expect us to trade the people's trust for a seat at the negotiating table. If a change of government is to make sense, it must begin with politicians finally keeping the promises they made to their voters," he pointed out.
