MPs with Wedding Cake Continue Blocking Parliament

Bratislava, February 19 (TASR) – Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) on Wednesday morning suspended the special parliamentary session until Thursday morning due to continuing obstructions by a group of Independent MPs around Miroslav Beblavy (Progressive Slovakia-Together).

Beblavy’s group has been blocking the area around the podium since Tuesday, when it refused to leave the chamber for what Danko described as its violation of the Rules of Procedure. Beblavy and Co. placed a wedding cake on the podium to symbolise a future ‘marriage’ of Smer-SD, SNS and the far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), namely the parties that intend to support in fast-tracked proceedings bills introducing 13th pension payments for the elderly, doubling family allowances and scrapping motorway stickers.

As nobody was on hand to enforce an order for the MPs to leave the hall, Danko decided to suspend the session until Wednesday morning shortly after it was opened on Tuesday afternoon. Beblavy’s group vowed on Tuesday evening that it was determined to stay in the chamber throughout the night in order to wait for the session to resume on Wednesday morning. MP Martin Poliacik posted a photo of himself on Facebook eating a wafer bar while sitting casually on the floor by the podium.

Danko on Wednesday appealed several times to the group to stop obstructing the session. “We’ve received collegial questions from other parliaments as to what’s going on in the chamber. If anyone believes that they’ll earn a percentage [in the general election due in ten days], they’re wrong,” said Danko, adding that MPs have never before defied an order to leave the chamber.