In OĽaNO they are trying to form a minority government / With Hatráková and Čepček, the coalition without SaS would have 74 votes, the question is Kuffovci – postoj.sk

With Hatráková and Čepček, the coalition without the SaS would have 74 votes, the question is the Kuffs Only a few days have passed since the termination of the coalition agreement by the SaS, and it is already being counted in the parliamentary corridors. Since OĽaNO clearly stood up for its leader Igor Matovič after the liberals’ ultimatum, who refuses to give up the post of Minister of Finance, at the moment the movement prefers the possibility of creating a minority government without SaS. Although this is a risky move, the two coalition partners We Are Family and For People have not yet sent a signal that this is not the way to go. This way, space is once again created for a variant that was already thought about during the coalition crisis in March 2021. The government coalition would lose 19 deputies with the departure of the SaS and thus would not have the 76 votes needed for a majority. However, it would be able to assemble 74, but it would have to rely heavily on several unclassified, originally coalition MPs. But for the majority, the three-coalition would also need a certain tolerance from the so-called kuffas. In that case, it would rely on 77 deputies, which could work for a while. So there is a chance to continue in the minority format. Finally, the head of the SaS, Richard Sulík, said on Sunday in TA3 that Prime Minister Eduard Heger can count on the votes of the SaS for all “reasonable and beneficial” votes. He also claims that the departure of the liberals from the coalition would not mean the fall of the government, and SaS deputies would not even vote for early elections. He added that if the rest of the coalition was not interested in further cooperation with SaS, they could once again rely on the support of ĽSNS. Read also Coalition crisis We will not topple the government, even if we leave, claims Sulík, who wants to meet with Heger. The president of SaS expects the next parliamentary elections to be held on time in February 2024. According to him, the government can continue even without SaS. Strengthened We are a family, shrinking For the people Even though the chairman of the We are a family movement, Boris Kollár, does not hide the fact that he would rather go to early elections than a government without SaS or further persistence of coalition disputes, he has not yet openly ruled out a minority government. He already told Richard Sulík that he had to get out of the “dead end” himself. At the same time, on Friday, he announced the strengthening of his parliamentary club by three unaffiliated MPs – Ján Krošlák (OĽaNO), Jozef Šimek (ĽSNS) and Romana Tabák (OĽaNO), with whom Sme family has been cooperating for some time. Although Tabák claims that she does not know about her transfer and continues to consider herself an unaffiliated member of parliament, the truncated coalition could count on her vote – the member of parliament supports coalition proposals in most cases in parliament, and this also happened with the pro-family package. Had it not been for the vote on Robert Fico’s extradition, she would probably still be a member of the OĽaNO club today. Ján Krošlák, who left the OĽaNO club in October 2021, also confirmed for Postoj that he would support the minority government, even though he does not want SaS to leave the government. He considers Igor Matovič to be the “most malignant cell” in the coalition, but he does not want early elections. Theoretically, the coalition thus has 71 votes – 48 from OĽaNO, 20 from Sme rodina (including Krošlák, Šimek and Tabák) and three MPs for the People. At the moment there are four, but in the case of the resignation of the Minister of Justice Mária Kolíková and her return to the parliament, Remišová’s party would lose MP Alexandra Pivková, who is her replacement. The minority government also has some support from Hatrák. The coalition could also rely on its ex-minister of agriculture, Ján Micovský, who also left OĽaNO, but except for the reform of national parks, he almost always votes in agreement with the coalition. Katarína Hatráková. Photo: Postoj/Andrej Lojan Support for the minority government can also be imagined by Katarína Hatráková, member of the Christian Union, who entered the parliament on the OĽaNO candidate and was expelled from the club together with Romana Tabák. “I will support the minority government. In this socio-political situation, I don’t see a way out in early elections,” says Hatráková for Postoj, who, after being expelled from the club, no longer felt like she was part of the government coalition. However, as before, she would, in her own words, continue to support “all good and meaningful bills” in the parliament. It does not condition its support on any special requirements, but expects more massive support for the social protection of children and adults from the responsible ministries. According to his own words, he no longer has any expectations from Igor Matovič. With Čepček’s 74 votes, the Minority Government would also be supported under certain conditions by unaffiliated MP Martin Čepček, who also owes his place in the parliament to Matovič’s OĽaNO. He himself was the first to be forced to leave the coalition a year ago – in OĽaNO they reproached him for repeatedly presenting abortion laws without consulting the coalition council, for regularly voting for opposition proposals or for cooperating with ĽSNS. However, even today, Čepček does not hide the fact that he has the biggest problem in the coalition with the SaS party, which is on its way out. “It is absurd that a 6 percent party, which for a year already has a number of ministers beyond the scope of the coalition agreement and the election results, is giving itself meaningless personnel ultimatums. And that only in order to slow down Progressive Slovakia, which preferentially breathes down their necks,” says Čepček for Postoj. Martin Čepček. Source: Facebook M. No. Nevertheless, he is ready to support a possible government of the parties OĽaNO, Sme rodina and Za lyů only if it tries to calm a divided society, not divide it further, with a direct allusion to strict anti-pandemic measures, closing churches and a vaccination campaign. How do you imagine it? “I would definitely be careful about what I support, as I have done so far,” he says. He personally cares about laws on the protection of life, material responsibility of politicians, fair justice, but also other topics with which the OĽaNO movement went to the elections. As he further explains, since the beginning of the election period, although many considered the current parliament to be conservative, according to him, until now it has not succeeded in promoting conservative themes. However, compared to others, he considers Igor Matovič as the Minister of Finance to be the smallest problem. He sees the biggest one in the Minister of Health, Vladimír Lengvarski, for his “sabotage of the health sector”. He also has reservations with the head of the Ministry of Defense, Jaroslav Naď, but significantly more so with the ministers of SaS – Mária Kolíková (for “ignoring the classic legislative process”) and Branislav Gröhling (for “treason of teachers”). According to him, Prime Minister Heger should dismiss them rather than Matovič for “fatal failures”. With Katarína Hatrákova and Martin Čepček, the government coalition without SaS would have 74 deputies. She is still two short of the closest majority. Without the cooperation of the SaS, the coalition would need Kuffa members. If the minority government coalition does not have the help of the SaS at the opening of the parliamentary sessions, for which at least 76 deputies are needed, the progress of three unaffiliated deputies – Tomáš Taraba, Filip Kuffa and Štefan Kuffa – will be crucial. These are members of the entity Život – narodná strana, who, like coalition deputy Jozef Šimko, got into parliament on the candidate of Marian Kotleba’s party. Read also Igor Matovič’s Dilemma How to deal with Sulík, maintain the government and get back on the horse An attempt is being made for a minority government that would lead Slovakia to regular or later early elections. It is from the attitude of these three deputies that the further functioning of part of the coalition can be derived, in various forms. Either they will help the new government to open the meeting of the National Council and subsequently reduce the parliamentary quorum, on the basis of which even 74 votes would be enough for the coalition to pass laws. However, a joint vote for important laws based on the model of the pro-family package is also not excluded. Together with Tomáš Tarab himself, György Gyimesi from OĽaNO has already submitted a joint bill on the banning of rainbow flags on public buildings, which, however, caused a wave of resentment in the coalition. Even if the Kuffs cannot be compared with the ĽSNS, through which they got into the parliament, it is still a formation whose support could be a problem not only for MPs for the People, but also some more liberal members of the OĽaNO club (for example Juraj Krúpa, Andrej Stančík or Kristián Čekovský). . But could the kuffa themselves imagine such support? They make it conditional on the date of early elections Party member Život Štefan Kuffa tells Postoj that the best solution to the coalition crisis is to agree on the date of early elections. At the same time, however, he does not personally rule out support for a minority government, provided that a specific date for the elections is agreed upon. Nevertheless, he considers such considerations to be very premature. In this matter, he will respect the decision of the Life party and the opinion of its chairman Tomáš Taraba. According to him, the internal party debate has not yet taken place. Štefan Kuffa and Tomáš Taraba. Photo: TASR/Jakub Kotian “As an opposition party, we are unequivocally for early elections, and not for various political chess games. SaS rejects early elections, it just wants to settle scores with Igor Matovič. We will not help Mr. Sulík or the liberals to improve their position so that they return to the government even stronger,” says Kuffa, adding that Sulík should defend himself to the voters that he is a notorious government breaker. Read also The SaS coalition crisis will topple the government, there is a higher game behind it, Matovič claims. The president asks for a restart “You can’t go on like this,” says President Čaputová, who wants to meet with Prime Minister Heger. He also rejects the establishment of an official government by President Zuzana Čaputová, which, according to him, liberals and progressives are trying to achieve. According to him, SaS played a game to depose and destroy Matovič in coordination with the presidential palace. “It was the same during the first government crisis and I am convinced that it is the same now.” Kuffa did not want to say for Postoj under what circumstances he could imagine supporting the minority government of the parties OĽaNO, Sme rodina and Za lúdí. Nevertheless, he is willing to support any government on conservative and value issues, thus justifying the support of the pro-family package. He would also vote for the parental bonus from the workshop of the Minister of Labor and Family Milan Krajniak, which could come to the parliament as early as September. He himself has no problem with the increase in taxes on alcohol or gambling, which Igor Matovič wants to financially cover higher teachers’ salaries. However, the support of the laws will be conditioned by the fact that they are well prepared and are not presented for support without discussion. Štefan Kuffa, who was a member of the National Council for the OĽaNO movement from 2012 to 2016, still considers Igor Matovič his friend, as do other government members. “I entered politics with Igor, and even if our paths diverged over time, I will not curse him or slander him, although it is fashionable and popular today.” Overall, Kuffa perceives the current coalition crisis not only as a personal dispute, but also as a battle of values. He calls SaS the party of death, which, according to him, resorts to insidious lies in the parliament. “They always come up with reasons why things other than a dignified life need to be solved.” Among the departmental heads of OĽaNO, he has the biggest problem with the work of Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský and Interior Minister Roman Mikulc. Juraj Šeliga and Jana Žitňanská. Photo: TASR/Jaroslav Novák The negotiations between Igor Matovič and the Kuffa during the summer will show whether the project of a minority government could have a future. But even the “yes” of the Kuffas, with whom the minority government coalition would have 77 deputies in the parliament, may not be enough. The puzzle is how, for example, Juraj Šeliga and Jana Žitňanská, who are nominally members of Remiš’s party For the People, will behave, but Šeliga got into a big dispute with Igor Matovič just when breaking the presidential veto. If Šeliga and Žitňanská were to disconnect from the minority three-way coalition and were not willing to tolerate it, the whole project would basically be in jeopardy. The opinion of Juraj Šelig is not known at the moment, we did not manage to get in touch with him last week. The 31-year-old member of parliament, who is also active on Facebook, has not yet commented on the government crisis on social networks.