Taraba: If in House, I Won't Follow Anyone's Thumbs-up or Thumbs-down

Bratislava, 25 September (TASR) - Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (an SNS nominee) is "packed and ready" to serve as an independent member of Parliament, set to support good legislative proposals.

"But nobody should expect me to vote for some nonsense just because it was agreed at a coalition council," he declared at a news conference on Friday.

Taraba underlined several times that he would not "blackmail or extort" anyone. He also said he had no interest in, and had never sought, any position. "I will act as an independent MP who will vote for every good bill," he emphasised, adding that he "certainly will not be the reason for an early election". At the same time, he warned that if he moved to Parliament, he would pursue his own independent political agenda. "I will not be guided by a thumbs-up or thumbs-down," he said.

Taraba also intends to act independently in cases involving votes of no confidence in ministers. "If the bar has been set so that I am to be dismissed despite having no scandals, then there are several others who do have scandals, so I will also act on a case-by-case basis," he indicated, signalling an individual approach to each process.

Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) is seeking guarantees from the SNS and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba that the coalition majority in Parliament will be maintained. He is prepared to withdraw his request to dismiss Taraba from office if he does not receive guarantees that the government and parliamentary majority will function normally. The prime minister also said he had asked President Peter Pellegrini to exercise patience in deciding on the proposal to replace the environment minister.

The president plans to meet the prime minister at the beginning of next week over the proposed personnel change at the Environment Ministry.