Parliament Expresses Confidence in Government; 78 MPs Supported Cabinet

      Bratislava, 18 June (TASR) - In a vote on Thursday, Parliament expressed confidence in the government, with 78 MPs supporting the cabinet and 54 lawmakers being against.
        Since it was the only item on the agenda, the vote ended the extraordinary 60th House session. The cabinet requested the vote due to the high public debt, which is in the highest sanction band under the constitutional Fiscal Responsibility Act.
        Parliament began debating the motion of confidence in the government on Thursday morning. It was primarily opposition lawmakers who took part in the debate. They repeatedly criticised the government for failing to consolidate public finances, noting that the situation in Slovakia continues to deteriorate. They also criticised the cabinet for delaying its request for a vote of confidence by several months.
        Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stressed in his address that the current government is doing a good job when it comes to consolidating public finances, as also appreciated by the European Commission (EC), despite the government having inherited the worst public finances within the EU from its predecessors. According to him, the opposition's criticism in this area is false, which is also proved by official statistics.
        The government has been required to seek a vote of confidence since October of last year, when its two-year exemption from the strictest debt brake sanctions expired. The debt has remained in the highest sanction band for some time, and European statistics office Eurostat reported in October of last year that Slovakia's public debt had reached 59.7 percent of GDP.
        However, as the government failed to submit a request to Parliament, a group of opposition MPs asked the Constitutional Court to provide its interpretation of the relevant provisions of the constitutional law on budgetary responsibility.
        On Wednesday (17 June), the Constitutional Court ruled that the government must ask Parliament for a vote of confidence immediately after it is found that the public debt threshold set in the constitutional law has been exceeded. According to the court, the phrase "without undue delay" means that "the government must take immediate and active steps to submit the request, taking into account the necessary procedure that the government is obliged to follow, without elements of unjustified inaction".
        Premier Fico said that he respects the Constitutional Court's ruling and conceded that the government is aware of this obligation. However, he said that he originally planned to submit such a request when Parliament discusses and votes on the state budget.