Sleepwalkers / An experiment begins that looks even worse than Matovič’s rule with Sulík – postoj.sk

An experiment is starting that looks even worse than the rule of Matovič with Sulík. At the very end of 2020, I wrote in a comment that for further governance it would be better if the SaS left the coalition of four and continued to rule together with the trio OĽaNO, Sme rodinja and Za łudí, which at that time they had 82 deputies. I did not write this as a member of Matovič’s fan club, on the contrary, even then and no less today, the leader of OĽaNO bears special responsibility for the destruction of government authority. But the equation at that time – shortly before the peak of the second wave of the pandemic – was simple: Matovič and Sulík formed a dangerous mix for governing, their mutual conflict paralyzed the government’s activities, only a few days before Matovič called Sulík an idiot while half-crying, he repeatedly mocked the pandemic measures of his own government . It was impossible to govern without Matovič, the clear winner of the elections, who controlled a third of the parliament, but without Sulík, yes. Both OĽaNO and Sme familia also dealt with this scenario, it did not look unrealistic even because neither Veronika Remišová nor Mária Kolíková – still a minister – could stand Sulíka in the For the People uniform – she was also close to Matovič himself. A few months later, everything was different, the March 2021 crisis rewrote the coalition configurations – Matovič lost the post of prime minister under Sulík’s pressure, and SaS joined half of the parliamentary club Za lvídu. It was impossible to govern without Matovič , but no longer without Sulík. And a year later, at the end of the winter of 2022, it seemed that Vladimir Putin decided that the coalition of four with Prime Minister Heger would manage despite all the internal pathologies. The attack on the neighboring state brought the four parties together anew, showed a civilizational difference compared to the direction of the three-time ex-prime minister, but a few months were enough and the governance again resembled the neurocracy from the pandemic period. Anti-politics presented by OĽaNO Today, it no longer makes sense to discuss again who has a greater stake in the end of the majority government. Richard Sulík gave Matovič an ultimatum, which he suspected that the already humiliated Matovič would not accept – as Matovič said yesterday, OĽaNO would lose its “soul” – it was also seen by his own, who spoke like this even outside the cameras and voice recorders. In addition, it was an ultimatum, which would not have solved the essence of the matter even from the point of view of SaS, because even if the chairman of OĽaNO had left the post of finance minister, he would have remained the strongest man in the coalition. But if today Matovič says that Sulík only used the pretext to leave the government , it should be added that he created an effective front field in the media as a pretext. With his circus style of politics, Igor Matovič got into a position that even if he says or promotes something that is popular in itself, he does not benefit politically from it in any way, and any opponent will take advantage of his weakness. of the family mega package, on which the leader of OĽaNO was supposed to collect points, Sulík asked for his head to the applause of the majority of the media and a large part of the public. And when last week Matovič presented Sulík with ten populist conditions “to help the people”, SaS did not even have to deal with it pro forma, because it knew that no one would take it seriously anyway. This does not mean at all that Richard Sulík will emerge from this coalition crisis as winner – the voters of this coalition do not like Matovič, but a large part of them, fearing inflation, the coming winter and the return of Fico, did not want the fall of Heger’s government, and during the summer they stopped understanding SaS, why they bet everything on the departure of Matovič. SaS should also not nor the poor condition of the preparations for the energy crisis or the chaos that Kolík’s successor in the courts were in on September 1. However, the main responsibility for further governance is assumed by OĽaNO and Igor Matovič. Whatever we think of Sulík’s ultimatum , in the strongest government movement, they had almost the whole summer to think about what path they would take – whether they would give in to Sulík, but at the same time ask him for realistic concessions and force him to walk around in a coalition of four, or whether they will at least come up with a slightly thought-out concept of a minority government. In OĽaNO, however, they do not cultivate politics as the art of the possible. Although the close leadership of the movement consulted throughout August on how to respond to the “blackmailer” Sulík, the strategic discussions were of no use, because the instinct of Matovičov’s anti-politics prevailed anyway. First, at the last minute, they presented Sulík with ten conditions, which he had to refuse. Even if it was supposed to work for the voters as a theater, it was a miserable performance that did not put SaS under any public pressure. And yesterday, shortly after all SaS ministers had already submitted their resignations and the government had thus become a definitive minority, the leader of OĽaNO also spoke at the press conference of the shrunken coalition about the functioning of the new government as follows: “an energy disaster awaits us,” “SaS is preparing hell for us,” “they will not follow the public interest, but politicize for their own benefit,” “Sulik cannot resist the temptation to associate with the mafia and fascists,” “I hold him thumbs up, let him do it, at least my words will be confirmed that he is capable of everything”. In addition, he mentioned how Sulík tripped up Radič’s government, which led to the death of Ján and Martina, how he met with Kočner and Kotleb, and the like. Sleepwalkers walking towards disintegration Igor Matovič has already experienced enough in his two years of rule that most people – including his former voters – are not bothered by such pain and personal obsessions, because instead of drunken emotions, people want to see something completely different in times of crisis: solid leadership and results. However, after the two-month departure of Sulík, instead of a hint of a new perspective, Matovič offers a continuation of the drama for the next few weeks, in which it will be definitively shown that Sulík is beating a gang with the mafia, throwing people overboard and we are all headed for disaster. In fact, the tandem OĽaNO – We are a family has no strategy, there is no tacit or open agreement in parliament to tolerate Heger’s minority government. Despite Matovič’s press releases, the coalition hopes that they will reach an agreement with SaS on key matters up to the approval of the budget, or that a majority of the present deputies will be enough – if the opposition members are less disciplined than those from the minority coalition. However, all this is a matter of faith – a matter of politics it would have happened if OĽaNO, instead of a carpet raid on SaS, had sought at least a minimum pact of tolerance with Sulík in recent days. Relations will be tested already next week, when the parliamentary session begins. The government should come up with a package of energy laws, issues such as price ceilings should be addressed – provided that they manage to approve it all at the next government meetings and submit it to the parliament. At this moment, it is clear that SaS is not voting for a vote of no confidence in Heger’s government, it they won’t allow themselves anymore because of their own voters. At the same time, it is quite pointless to debate that the SaS together with the opposition would remove Matovič from the post of minister and that the SaS would pretend that it wants to return to the government after “fulfilling” the condition – Robert Fico was already heard in mid-August , that he is not a child to make such mistakes and allow the coalition to continue. It is also true that there are not 90 deputies in the parliament who would vote first for changing the constitution and then for early elections. This would happen if the Sme family declared that it is impossible to govern in this composition and that early elections must be held. That would be the downfall of Heger’s government, which can happen relatively soon, we will pass the first test in a few days in the parliament. about the circumstances of its successful functioning. However, ours – led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger – are entering it like sleepwalkers. If the Matovič-Sulík couple – this time one from the coalition and the other from the opposition – is to guarantee minority rule, something worse awaits us after the nervously unstable coalition of four.