Zitnanska: We Still Don't Know Whether We'll Join Government at All
Bratislava, March 15 (TASR) – The question of filling ministerial posts with particular nominees is premature for now, as talks haven’t yet been concluded and Most-Hid at the moment doesn’t even know whether it will join a government at all, Most-Hid vice-chair Lucia Zitnanska told journalists on Tuesday.
Zitnanska was arriving at the Government Office, where talks between delegations of Smer-SD, the Slovak National Party (SNS), Most-Hid and Siet (Network) on programme priorities were due to continue.
Most-Hid leader Bela Bugar reiterated that the agreement on the programme is more important at the moment than one on the names of new ministers. “We’re working on the manifesto, and 90 percent of what we wanted has been included in it,” he declared, adding that Most-Hid also wants to see a change in the way in which politics operates.
Representatives of the above four parties began negotiating on Monday (March 14) afternoon, sitting at the table for more than eight hours. Smer-SD leader Robert Fico told journalists that Smer, SNS, Most-Hid and Siet had come to an agreement on draft programme priorities. Fico said that the proposal for programme priorities is complete and was due to be approved by bodies of the respective parties on Tuesday morning. The talks resumed at the Government Office at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The priorities that may form part of the agreement on cooperation between the four parties on forming a government should thereby be definitively decided on Tuesday. Personnel questions have not yet been resolved. “We were primarily resolving programme intersections, as these are four parties with differing views and values. We haven’t found any issues or questions that would definitively divide us,” stated Fico on Monday.
Chief of the Government Office’s communications department Erik Tomas told journalists that when the delegations agree on programme priorities, they will appear jointly before the media. This should happen soon. Subsequently, they’ll continue with talks concerning additional issues, including personnel ones.
