SKOK: Radicova Didn't Bring Down Government, Sulik Should Apologise
Bratislava, February 4 (TASR) – Iveta Radicova’s centre-right government (2010-12) wasn’t brought down by Radicova in 2011, as Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) chairman Richard Sulik says, but by all representatives of the coalition of that time, said non-parliamentary SKOK party leader Juraj Miskov at a press conference on Thursday.
Miskov was economy minister representing SaS at the time in question.
“All leaders of that time are accountable for the fall of Radicova’s government, including us. We didn’t manage to stop Sulik, that’s our responsibility. Everyone who wants to be in politics should approach it in a manly way and apologise. What is manly in passing the buck to Radicova? We call on Richard Sulik to stop these attacks, to accept his share of the responsibility and to apologise,” said Miskov.
SKOK’s Daniel Krajcer, who was culture minister with SaS at the time, said that Sulik blames Radicova for the government’s downfall, but that isn’t correct. “We know it, we were there. The government didn’t fall in October in parliament, but de facto a month before at unsuccessful coalition discussions in Casta-Papiernicka [parliament’s retreat in Bratislava region]. From then it was clear that it was over. The government wasn’t brought down by Radicova, but by politicking, squabbles and big blinded egos,” said Krajcer.
On October 11, 2011 Radicova’s government failed to survive a no-confidence vote that was attached to a vote on the European Financial Stability Facility.
Sulik recently published SMS messages that he exchanged with Radicova at that time on news website Aktuality.sk. According to Sulik, they show that Radicova promised him that the vote on the two issues wouldn’t be linked. Sulik said that he had Radicova’s approval to publish them, but Radicova responded by saying that Sulik wants to avoid blame, so he’s deliberately cherry picking certain facts and is quiet about others.
Sulik responded with a video note. “I fully agree with these two gentlemen, and I also expect that ‘Macko Usko’ and ‘Truhlik the Beetle’ [children’s cartoon characters – ed. note] and all the other critters in the woods to approach the whole issue in a manly way and to look to the future,” said Sulik.
