Pellegrini: One-off State Holiday to Receive Backing in Parliament

Pellegrini: One-off State Holiday to Receive Backing in Parliament

Bratislava, May 23 (TASR) – A one-off state holiday to mark the centenary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation (October 30) is expected to gain majority backing in Parliament despite the earlier negative attitude of the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS), Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) announced on Wednesday.

According to the prime minister, SNS’s negative stance didn’t correspond entirely to the opinions of certain members of the party’s presidium, and the disputes were settled at a Coalition Council session on Tuesday.

SNS in an earlier official statement disagreed with adopting a one-off state holiday, calling it a non-systemic measure, an attitude that was supported by figures from Slovak business.

Nevertheless, Pellegrini on Wednesday stated that with all due respect for the stance of businesses, for him the centenary of the declaration “comes before the economic interests of Slovak business”.

The 1918 document effectively declared Slovakia’s independence from the Kingdom of Hungary and paved the way for Slovakia to unite with the Czech lands to create Czechoslovakia.