BRATISLAVA, February 16, (WEBNOVINY) –Three parliamentary deputies for SaS from the Ordinary People faction, Jozef Viskupic, Martin Fecko and Erika Jurinova stay in the SaS deputy caucus. They decided to not follow their mate Igor Matovic who was expelled from the SaS deputy club last week because he voted for a law forged by opposition SMER-SD. This decision leaves the coalition with majority in the parliament. The ruling parties thus can count on 77 votes in the 150-strong House. “Today we have accepted a request of the SaS club to remain in the caucus. At the same time, the SaS deputy club has accepted our demand that the moment we set up our own political party we can quit the caucus and keep the deputy mandate, „Viskupic told the media, adding that they do not want to disrupt the stability of the government.
SaS leader Richard Sulik said that neither the establishment of a new party would threaten the coalition; he believes that the Ordinary People will not ally with the opposition. He said that their personal relationship is good. “We buried the hatchet,” Sulik told journalists after session of SaS caucus, adding that they do not intend to dig in the past. Last week, both politicians had exchanged various accusations in their blogs. “What was said was said. I am not going to go back to it,” stated Matovic.
Despite the decision of three members of the Ordinary People group to stay with the SaS deputy club, the coalition remains fragile, according to the political scientist Miroslav Kusy. “Formally they managed to save the majority coalition, but their voting in future is very uncertain,” he told SITA news agency. “Matovic said that he would vote according to his convictions. It can be thus expected that the behavior of the remaining three members will be similar to his, despite the fact that they remain in the SaS deputy club,” the analyst stated.
Four Ordinary People ran in the June elections on the SaS slate. In July they were already considering leaving the SaS club since coalition partners did not incorporate their suggestions in the government program. At the end of last December an agreement between Sulik and Matovic expired, banning Matovic from taking any steps leading to the establishment of his own party.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova considers the decision of the coalition party SaS and the Ordinary People MPs to be a responsible one. “Their agreement not only creates space for political stability, but also for general stability in the society as well,” says Radicova. According to her, stability is necessary in the uneasy situation of recovering from the economic crisis in Slovakia and other EU countries. “It is not always possible to avoid political confrontations, but they may not be an obstacle to real political decisions and solutions,” she added.
SITA