Wednesday’s vote of no confidence – where only 34 out of 136 Slovak MPs expressed confidence in the technocratic government of Ľudovít Ódor – means less oversight and power for a government already reluctant to vote in Council on controversial topics.
President Zuzana Čaputová has authorised the government to exercise power anyway, calling the vote “immature” without arguments.
“We will do our best to deliver what we have put forward even without a full mandate,” he said,” said Ódor, alluding to his programming statement, which prioritised the correct implementation of EU funds.
The government now has the same powers the previous government of Eduard Heger had after its own vote of no confidence. Čaputová moved to replace it with apolitical experts after a controversial €1.4 million donation to a landfill co-owned by one of its members.
The caretaker government will now be constitutionally barred from deciding on certain international treaties and “fundamental” measures of economic, social, domestic, and foreign policy. The Constitution is unclear on what those are, which might lead to problems.
Ódor’s government has already proven reluctant to vote on controversial topics in the Council. It abstained on the migration pact vote, even as Interior Minister Ivan Šimko previously said Slovakia should be “open to and participate in” it.
His position changed after conservative outlets and right-wing parties accused him of secretly pushing for a refugee quota. Šimko explained his abstentions by the “limited mandate of the current government”. After the failed vote, the government will likely err on the side of caution even more.
Richard Sulík, leader of the liberal SaS party, who was the sole supporter of the Ódor government, criticised the failed vote as a “political mistake”. By not giving the government confidence, MPs have given up on oversight and will be unable to vote down individual ministers.
Ódor said that Wednesday’s parliamentary discussion included “total gutter, primitivism and stand-up comedy“. Parliamentarians criticised the prime minister’s Hungarian ethnicity, not presenting a sports policy or not paying citizens a €500 bonus for voting in September’s snap elections.
(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)
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