BRATISLAVA/CASTA, September 12, (WEBNOVINY) — On Monday morning, members of the Cabinet together with ruling coalition MPs launched a session on the European rescue mechanisms, proposed 2012 state budget and the tax and levies reform behind closed doors in Casta-Papiernicka, a parliamentary recreational facility near Bratislava. After the session, a meeting of the Coalition Council is scheduled to follow in the afternoon. Due to its delicate character of the meeting, the reporters were not allowed to the Casta Parliament facility and some twenty of them had to wait in front of the building surrounded by forest.
According to MOST-HID caucus Chairman Laszlo Solymos the aim of the session is to clarify the participants‘ positions. KDH Deputy Chairman Pavol Abrhan explained that the coalition should synchronize their approach to all these issues and if it’s possible, agree on common actions. “We are facing a serious discussion. It’s in our interest that this coalition continues,” Abrhan added. MOST-HID Chairman Bela Bugar said that merging the vote on ESM with vote on confidence in the prime minister could also be discussed. Former KDH and now independent MP Andrej Durkovsky said that the coalition could continue in the case that essential inconsistencies such as position to ESM are removed.
This Monday’s daily Hospodarske Noviny wrote that according to Bugar, SaS’s opposition to the bailout funds can result in dissolution of the coalition. Yet in an article in the same paper, SaS Chairman Richard Sulik opposes claiming they are those acting according to the Cabinet program document. Regarding the possibility of merging the two votes, Sulik claimed to stand behind the prime minister.
Not letting the reporters into the cabinet facility premises was a proposal of SaS approved by their coalition partners on Sunday. Richard Sulik’s secretary Tatiana Tothova together with KDH and SDKU-DS spokesmen brought sandwiches and water for the reporters, emphasizing that already on Sunday were they told that the session would not be public. So for them, all hygienic facilities remained behind the fence.
SITA