Beblavy, Machackova and Petrik Leave Siet Party

Bratislava, March 17 (TASR) – Legislators Miroslav Beblavy, Katarina Machackova and Simona Petrik at a press conference in Bratislava on Thursday announced their departure from the Siet (Network) party.

Zuzana Zimenova is also leaving her post in the party, although she wasn’t an actual member of it.

“We’re renouncing our membership in Siet,” emphasised Machackova, who, alongside Beblavy and Petrik, has been elected to Parliament. Zimenova was Siet’s first substitute.

The reason for the departures is that a deal with Smer-SD on a governing coalition has already been struck, more or less. All three of the legislators want to keep their parliamentary mandates as Independent MPs. They don’t want to join any pre-existing caucus at the moment.

Beblavy further announced that the quartet is planning to send a letter to all Siet members explaining the reasons for their move, and calling on those who agree with it to make themselves heard.

According to agreements made between Smer-SD, SNS, Most-Hid and Siet, the latter party should receive the Transport, Construction and Regional Development Ministry. However, the party has 13 working groups for various spheres bar transport, noted Beblavy.

“When a party works diligently on a detailed programme for two years, it has experts on these sectors, and then enters a Government assuming a ministry that it hasn’t dealt with at all, what other proof is necessary to show that its motivation really isn’t promoting its programme?” posited Beblavy.

If someone from Siet’s ordinary MPs becomes a minister – of transport, according to the coalition agreement – it will be Zimenova who’ll substitute the person in Parliament. She announced earlier this week that she wouldn’t relinquish her mandate of MP, if she gets into Parliament, however, regardless her disagreement with Siet’s involvement with Smer. In that case Siet would have only six MPs and balance in the House would be 80 MPs supporting the coalition and 70 in Opposition.