OLaNO-NOVA: Danko Has Gall to Cause Chaos in Slovakia over EU Funds
Bratislava, August 7 (TASR) – Dividing up the loot of EU funds for science and research is so important for the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) that its head and Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko is ready to stir up chaos in Slovakia for it, stated Opposition OLaNO-NOVA MPs Veronika Remisova and Igor Matovic on Monday.
Responding to Danko’s withdrawal from the coalition agreement earlier in the day, the two Opposition MPs added that the action taken by the SNS head is proof that the coalition is unable to govern together and that instead of addressing the main issues in Slovakia, such as education and health care, it will now quarrel about spheres of influence.
“Andrej Danko has failed in managing our country and shown that he’s unable to communicate. After the coalition council session on Thursday [August 3] he pretended that everything was fine, but today he’s sending ‘paper’ notes to his coalition partners as if they weren’t members of the Government but classmates at primary school,” said Remisova and Matovic, adding that this move, however, won’t help Danko to cover up the scandal concerning the distribution of EU funds for science and research.
Responding to the issue via a video published on a social network, Independent MP Miroslav Beblavy stated that Danko’s move could lead to two good results – either to the fall of the Government and a snap election or to some changes at specific ministries.
Beblavy went on to say that the option according to which the Government would fall apart is rather unlikely, however. “All of the three members of this coalition know that they won’t find any better partners, so I expect them to reach an agreement again, but in a different way,” he said. “In that I see the second possible positive result from the withdrawal from the coalition agreement, which is that Peter Plavcan [an SNS nominee] will lose his post as head of the Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry. And not only that, SNS could lose the ministry as a whole as part of a coalition change,” added Beblavy.
Opposition We Are Family chairman Boris Kollar also responded to Danko’s decision to withdraw from the coalition agreement. “Don’t celebrate too early, Andrej Danko isn’t going to bring down the Government. In my view it’s 99 percent just a game to ‘fool’ you, the public,” said Kollar in a video posted on a social network, adding that Danko’s move is only an attempt to divert the public’s attention away from the scandal involving the distribution of EU funds for science and research by the Education Ministry.
Danko has withdrawn from the coalition agreement, claiming an absolute need to reset the rules and adjust relations within the governing coalition. Among other reasons he cited the need to set completely new priorities that would be reflected within the process of drafting a new budget in order to restore mutual trust between the coalition partners, as well as the public’s trust in the coalition.
At the same time, Danko has proposed that his coalition partners should hold bilateral or multilateral talks with the SNS leadership about the possibility of drawing up a new coalition agreement.
