Page 42 - bne monthly magazine October 2022

42 I Central Europe bne October 2022
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova has referred a proposed referendum on snap elections to the constitutional court. / bne IntelliNews
Slovak government faces a hot autumn
ASlbin Sybera, Robert Anderson in Prague lovakia's tottering minority
coalition government is facing a hot autumn, with a vote
of confidence expected in
Finance Minister Igor Matovic, and a referendum set to be held on bringing it down. In a sign of its future problems, on Wednesday only 71 deputies voted
to start a session in the parliament,
for which 75 votes is needed, and
the session had to be postponed to September 20.
The political turmoil comes as the government needs to agree and pass a number of measures to combat the deepening inflation and energy crisis that threatens to lead to hardship and domestic unrest.
This month Slovakia saw a protracted cabinet crisis climax with the rightwing SaS party leaving the ruling coalition. Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) can now only count on around 70 seats in the 150-member parliament.
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SaS said it will back those moves of Heger’s cabinet which are in line with the coalition agreement which SaS signed two years ago. The party also said it will try to remove Matovic, leader of OLaNO, whose behaviour as finance minister was the spark for it to leave the cabinet. Opposition parties are expected to launch a vote of no-confidence in him in him in the coming days, a move that could accelerate the disintegration of the cabinet.
"It still remains to be seen what game Sulik will play in opposition," Milan Nic, senior fellow at the German Council
of Foreign Relations (DGAP), told bne IntelliNews in a telephone interview. "He doesn't want elections too soon and to get the blame. There's still a possibil- ity they will muddle through until it's in the interest of a majority in parliament to have early elections."
Nic also pointed that Slovakia can scarcely afford at the moment to go
into election mode and neglect the ongoing cost of living crisis. "To have a government that is not working for three months in this crisis, this would cause a break-up of institutions,"
he warned.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova has given the cabinet some breathing space by this week referring a referendum for snap elections proposed by a petition organised by former premier Robert Fico's Smer-SD to the constitutional court.
The first referendum questions asks "Do you agree that the government of Slovakia should resign immediately?" After consulting lawyers, Caputova found this question could possibly contradict the Slovak constitution. The constitution defines the parliamentary term as having four years.
The constitutional court ruling will determine the contents of the referendum, which Caputova said