INTERVIEW Šutaj Eštok: The government should not expect any helping hand from us, Matovič is a disturbed person – Topky.sk

On Tuesday, President Zuzana Čaputová appointed three new ministers – Viliam Karas, Karel Hirman and Rastislav Kácer – how do you rate them from the point of view of expertise? Already during the dismissal of the Minister of the Interior, Roman Mikulc, I greeted them in the new government, because they are part of Igor Matovič’s government, as we learned on Tuesday. In the parliament, not the non-existent Prime Minister Eduard Heger, but the real Prime Minister Igor Matovič, spoke in defense of Mikulac on behalf of the government, and he refuted the entire opposition in the parliament. I asked Mr. Káčer, Mr. Hirman and also Mr. Karas if they are looking forward to tarnishing their long-established name and reputation by participating in the government with a mentally disturbed person like Igor Matovič, and on Tuesday he fully presented it in the parliament. From my point of view, these three men have thrown their careers in the trash. So you only object to the fact that they became part of this particular government, but not their expertise? – I am most sorry for the current Minister of Justice Viliam Karas, whom I consider to be an expert, that he could be persuaded to become part of Igor Matovič’s government. You can be any expert, but once you find yourself in a gang with this person, something is probably wrong. This week, the President also announced her decision regarding the calling of a referendum on early elections. The question regarding the resignation of the government was sent to the Constitutional Court. He considers it questionable from the point of view of constitutionality. How do you perceive this step of hers? – I am sorry that Mrs. President always acts contrary to what the Slovak nation requires. In times when Slovakia expects her to stand on the side of the people, she does the opposite and helps this government to be here as long as possible. And she made the same mistake a year ago, when she unnecessarily turned to the Constitutional Court in the case of the first referendum. If she had not done so, the referendum would have been called and if you look at the mood among the people, I am convinced that it would have been successful. We could have had early elections, people would have re-dealt the cards and I believe we would have a more sane government than we have today. And I am equally saddened by her current alibi stance, when she said that she would announce a referendum, but turned to the Constitutional Court with one question. This logically means that the date of the referendum is being pushed back and it is not happening as planned for October 29, when the municipal elections are held. It also jeopardized people’s participation in the referendum because, from my point of view, it is no longer so mobilizing for them to come and clearly say that they are fed up with this government. From our point of view, however, there is nothing else to do but respect it, and I think that the President will eventually answer it. You can see that even in terms of trustworthiness, she fell from relatively high numbers and was overtaken by our chairman Peter Pellegrini, who is today the most trustworthy politician in Slovakia. As for the actual support of laws, the coalition has 70 MPs, which is not enough for them to pass laws. Therefore, they will have to look for votes in the opposition benches, in the ranks of unclassified deputies. Under what conditions are you willing to support them? – Our position is absolutely clear. We are ready to support all good bills if we agree to hold early elections as a first step. If we can agree across the political spectrum that early elections will be in January, February or March, whenever next year, then we are ready to talk to the government about supporting any reasonable laws. Until then, we will certainly not replace the role of the coalition party. We are the opposition, the government is there to govern. Out of the constitutional majority of 95 deputies, only 70 remained, but they have themselves to blame. Even the “wannabe” Prime Minister Heger said that they have 70 deputies. Well, if they have 70 deputies, let them go down with the pears and let’s agree on early elections as soon as possible. Not even if it were a law that would cover the capping of energy prices and help businesses or households cope with the rise in energy prices? – At the moment when we agree on early elections, in the same way that we supported all reasonable proposals for laws in two and a half years, we are ready to support every reasonable proposal to help people. HLAS, unlike the government, constantly submits such proposals, and the government coalition throws them into the trash one after another. Photo gallery (4) Source: Topky – Ján Zemiar Unless there is an agreement on early elections, is that out of the question in any case? – Without an agreement on early elections and after all that Igor Matovič showed in the parliament when recalling Minister Mikulac, what buckets of dirt this sick individual delivered there without any constructive debate, please, let the government not expect any helping hand from us. They are in government, let them rule. Early elections are the best solution for Slovakia and the people. And if such a law came, for example, from the ranks of the ĽS NS or deputies from the Republic movement? – I don’t understand this question now, because we have always supported every good law that came to parliament, whether it was proposed by the Republic movement, We are a family, SaS or anyone else. HLAS now has proposals in parliament to help people – a proposal for a real and fair thirteenth pension of 515 euros for each pensioner and a proposal to pay 200 euros for all children by the end of the year. The government did not submit anything – and what did Mr. Heger say about our proposals? That they will not support them in any way. So what do they expect from us? I’m also asking this because I’m interested in your attitude to cooperation with either the ĽS NS or the Republic. – If you look at the political scene, we are probably the only entity that is a pillar of the anti-fascist struggle. We have a signed contract with the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters, we submitted a law to this meeting to ensure that it is properly funded. Today, Ministers Mikulec and Naď are causing huge problems for them and do not want to support this civic association. It is clearly defined in our political DNA that we are an anti-fascist party. As part of the presidency, we excluded any cooperation with people from Marian Kotleba, and you didn’t even see us standing on the same stage with people from the Republic, nor do we somehow fraternize with them, nor do we shake hands with them when handing over the referendum. Our position is clearly anti-fascist. Which parties do you still exclude from possible cooperation? – We clearly excluded the OĽaNO movement. For us, OĽaNO and Igor Matovič is the cause of all the evil in Slovak politics, and we cannot imagine cooperation with this mailbox company at any level, be it municipal, parliamentary or social. And can you imagine cooperation with the Smer-SD party in the future? – Apart from those pages that we have clearly defined as unacceptable, we will not exclude anyone in advance. Only the people will decide who it will be possible to talk to after the possible early elections. They will distribute the mandates, they will say who will have what percentage and whether, for example, we will even get into the parliament. It’s all up to the will of the people. Would you mind if the chairman of Smer-SD Robert Fico takes a picture with Milan Uhrík from the Republic? – We took a fairly clear position on this, that we would not enter into such cooperation. We keep our form of communication and politics and we are an independent party. How and with whom Mr. Fico takes pictures is a question for him. Photo gallery (4) Source: Topky – Ján Zemiar SaS is preparing a motion to recall Igor Matovič, collecting signatures. Will Hlasu-SD deputies sign the call for an extraordinary meeting? – In this case, too, we have clearly signaled to colleagues from the SaS that if they vote for a constitutional amendment that will allow early elections, we are ready to provide signatures for the recall of this mentally deranged person. We will even suggest with a procedural motion, if the meeting opens on Tuesday, that the amendment to the constitution be discussed as the first point, because only then does it make sense to open the meeting. If colleagues from SaS vote for this bill, we have no problem giving them signatures to recall Matovič. Recently, you have been expressing your opinion on social networks intensively about the case concerning the situation in the police and the so-called “Čurillovci”. Why? Do you feel that this is something that politicians should comment on? – I don’t think we’re talking about a war in the police, but we’re talking about the fact that everything that this government has tried to do has been messed up. They failed during the pandemic and helping people. The only thing they have left as their benchmark is the alleged fight for justice. And we have known for over a year that there is an organized group of NAKA investigators, ŠTS judges and ÚŠP prosecutors in Slovakia who imagine their justice in their own way. That there are rigged investigations, that we have a group of penitents and similar madness. And I pointed this out in the parliament as well, that such a person as Roman Mikulec, who tolerates all this, cannot stand at the head of the Ministry of the Interior. Together with police chief Hamran, he is only an executor of the decisions of Igor Matovič and Daniel Lipšic. In the parliament, I quoted the statements of a former member of the elite police units, Ján Kalavský, who, during all of this, was like these people, on the instructions of the Čuril family, they fabricated evidence, imprisoned people due to psychological pressure, and talked among themselves about shooting their children. This is something that is absolutely unacceptable in a democratic and legal state. That is why I also asked in the parliament if this is the justice and if this is how Mr. Matovič, Heger, and Mr. Lipšic and Hamran imagine that justice. You mentioned the interview with former policeman Ján Kałavský, which was published in the weekly PLUS 7 days, and in which he describes the way in which some members of NAKA worked. But he himself was also supposed to take bribes and was also accused. Do you take his words as facts? – For me, a significant symbol and confirmation of the truth is what Mr. Kałavský himself said – and Prime Minister Heger did not deny – that the Prime Minister requested a meeting with him on the grounds of Tipos, where Eduard Heger’s friend and Tipos director at the time, Marek Kaňka, was also present, who is today accused of economic crime. Mr. Kałavský informed the Prime Minister at the time, Mr. Heger, about all this, and the next day, puppeteers broke down his door and took him away. For me, this is a confirmation that the real mafia led by Mikulec, Matovič and Lipšić acted against the person who spoke the truth. Do you know Ján Kalavský personally? – I never met him. But put together a mosaic of all the things we talked about here: the secret meeting in SIS, the manipulating investigators and special prosecutors, the audio recordings where the so-called elite investigators are having fun, how their colleagues go to set fire to a car with a canister and kick her in the ass. These are atrocities, not justice.