BRATISLAVA, September 26, (WEBNOVINY) — Immediately after her return from a brief visit to Croatia on Monday evening, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova plans to meet with representatives of some ruling coalition parties. They are to deal with the tense situation in the coalition when the liberal SaS keeps radically refusing support to the expansion of the eurozone bailout fund in parliament. Some observers fear that the argument inside the coalition might lead to the collapse of the government. The prime minister said that the meetings will continue also throughout Tuesday morning. Until then, she refuses to make any statements on the possible solution of the stalemate. She pledged to inform the public just after closing the series of meetings with coalition politicians.
The presidium of Radicova’s party SDKU-DS will debate the situation around the support to changes to the eurozone rescue mechanism on Tuesday. Its members should vote on merging the bailout fund vote with a confidence vote in the government of Iveta Radicova, the solution preferred by SDKU Deputy Chairman and Finance Minister Ivan Miklos and allegedly also by SDKU-DS boss Mikulas Dzurinda.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova keeps reiterating that for her the priority is stability of the ruling coalition, as only this is how it can adopt the necessary reforms and approve next year’s budget. The prime minister underscored that the bailout fund is turning into a red-hot political issue.
After the September 12 meeting of the Coalition Council, Radicova confirmed that connecting of the two votes was on the agenda. „I will not take over responsibility for political instability,” she underscored that time.
In the Sunday debate on TV Markiza, SaS Chairman Richard Sulik said that a part of the SDKU leadership is organizing intrigues against the prime minister with the aim to topple the government. He alleges that a part of the SDKU is pressing Radicova to merge the bailout fund vote with a vote of confidence though she opposes connecting of votes. MOST-HID Chairman Bela Bugar however rejected this, saying that it was a mere speculation.
SITA