President Asks Premier to Deal with Problems Related to Pandemic and Reforms
Bratislava, December 2 (TASR) – I’ve asked Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) to assume responsibility and make progress towards solving the problems that are causing the weak results in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic and the chaos in adopting reforms, President Zuzana Caputova stated following a meeting with the premier at the Presidential Palace on Thursday.
“We’re all witnessing that the coalition can’t take virtually any measure without it becoming a subject of an intra-coalition dispute or a threat of coalition disintegration. “It’s an illusion to think that people can trust the decisions they make when they are questioned by members of the Government themselves,” she said.
The president also pointed out that Slovakia has been the worst in the world for the second consecutive week in terms of the number of the infected per capita. At the same time, the state budget still hasn’t been approved and the increase in health professionals’ salaries is, according to the head of state, conditioned by further changes. “We’re in crisis and we need stronger leadership. When it comes to the fate of Slovakia and the lives of its inhabitants, nothing else can take precedence,” added Caputova.
I consider the current situation to be so intricate and tense that different views on solutions are a natural consequence of it, Prime Minister Heger said in response to the words of President Caputova.
The prime minister, like the president, thinks that “the coalition should act together in the case of the pandemic and find positions with a lower intensity of conflicts, which even applies to the opposition,” TASR learnt from his spokeswoman Lubica Janikova.
Heger called on the opposition to stop fighting the Government over the novel coronavirus pandemic, but join in saving lives. “It’s essential to bring unity today and ease tensions in society, in which constitutional officials play a key role,” he concluded.