President: Absence of PS and SaS at Round Table Irresponsible

       Bratislava, January 31 (TASR) - I consider the decision of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) parties not to participate in the round table on Slovakia's foreign policy orientation to be irresponsible, President Peter Pellegrini stated in a video posted on a social network on Friday.
        The head of state told PS leader Michal Simecka and SaS chairman Branislav Groehling that the invitation still stands.
        "I've invited for next Tuesday (February 4) the chairmen of the three coalition and three opposition parties to a round table on Slovakia's foreign policy orientation to the Presidential Palace. PS and SaS declined my invitation on Friday. I consider this to be an extremely unfortunate and irresponsible decision towards my homeland, but there's still time to change it," he said.
        The president doesn't understand the actions of Simecka and Groehling, pointing out that it was they who had asked him for the meeting. Pellegrini noted that foreign policy was once the subject of a broad political consensus. "The decision of the two opposition parties worries me all the more because they are the ones who use the topic of our anchoring in the EU and NATO, if I shouldn't use another word, also in the internal political battle," he pointed out.