Some members of the recently ousted cabinet of Prime Minister Eduard Heger want to form a new majority with Heger at the helm but without controversial Finance Minister Igor Matovič or Interior Minister Roman Mikulec, though most commentators believe this will likely fail.
Those in favour of the proposed formation include part of Heger’s OĽaNO party and some members of former coalition partner Freedom and Solidarity (SaS). Environment Minister Ján Budaj and his platform, which used to be part of OĽaNO but left after the no-confidence vote, will also join the proposed coalition formation.
Finding a majority to back this government formation will be tricky, however, as Matovič, also of OĽaNO, has not yet made it clear whether he would back such a formation.
Also not yet known is the stance of Boris Kollár and his We are Family party, the second-strongest party in the National Council, though Kollár does not oppose it in principle.
President Zuzana Čaputová gave the coalition until the end of January to find a new majority. After that, the National Council would allow snap elections, which Čaputová and opposition leaders Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Peter Pellegrini (Hlas) would like to hold by the end of next June.
At the same time, Pellegrini is talking about returning to the prime minister’s seat and did not rule out forming a coalition with Smer-SD, his former party now led by Fico despite growing tensions between the two.
Over the weekend, Fico said he would block any military help to Ukraine and would only support humanitarian aid if his party were in government.
While Fico opposes sanctions against Russia, Pellegrini remains ambivalent on such issues.
(Michal Hudec | EURACTIV.sk)
Source: euractiv.com
