Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party SNS) kicked out the deputy Lucia Plaváková from Progressive Slovakia from the hall because he did not like the stickers on her computer.
“There are rainbows, LGBTI themes, there are stickers promoting companies,” Danko justified his action according to Denník N. He called on the deputy to remove the stickers or cover them up. When the deputy did not do so, Danko expelled her from the hall, which would mean an unexcused absence from the meeting.
A “failure” from our own ranks
Plaváková submitted an objection to Danko’s procedure, which was approved by the deputies. Only the members of the SNS voted against, the members of the strongest government party Direction abstained, and the members of the government party Hlas together with the opposition supported the objection. Danko called Hlas’ position a betrayal and a gross violation of the coalition agreement. “I don’t understand the weakness of the Voice on LGBTI topics,” added Danko.
In the end, Plaváková was expelled from the hall anyway. For the same reason as Danko, the new chairman, Tibor Gašpar, from the strongest government party, Direction-Social Democracy, did so in the further course of the meeting. Plaváková’s objection to this step was rejected by the lower house during a later vote. Hlas-SD changed its mind and did not support Plaváková’s objection. He justified it by the fact that the deputy escalated the situation.
At the subsequent press conference of the SNS, deputy Rudolf Huliak called deputy Plaváková an asshole. “When a member of parliament reads in her contribution that a fetus does not deserve to live, I cannot call her anything other than a bitch,” said Huliak, who defended Dank’s procedure.
In the Slovak government coalition, tension between the Hlas party and the SNS has been growing for a long time. Danko has expressed an interest in becoming the speaker of the parliament, but according to the coalition agreement, this post belongs to Hlas. SNS then began to sharply criticize the Minister of Health Zuzana Dolinková (Voice) and the Minister of Social Affairs Erik Tomáš (Voice).
President Peter Pellegrini, who faced this year’s election as head of the state at the head of the Hlas party, also responded to this. The head of state said that Danko does not have a mandate to set the tone of Slovak politics, alluding to the low preferences of the CIS.
“I don’t quite understand what the president of the SNS is about, even though I understand that his personal, even childish desire for a chair probably forces him to put his personal ambitions above the interests of the country. “Slovakia is facing serious consolidation, which the coalition must handle in unity and in discussion,” the president said.
Andrej Danko
Danko immediately admitted that he had bad relations with Pellegrini in the past. “I believe that President Petr Pellegrini is not tempted by the devil, that he does not want an official government here,” added Danko.
The Rules of Procedure stipulate that it is forbidden to bring, for example, banners, posters, leaflets, as well as materials that promote a political party or spread advertising, into the meeting hall of the Slovak Parliament. According to Danek, a member of parliament must not promote any topics. Slovak legislators face the risk of losing part or all of their monthly salary and allowances for repeatedly being expelled from the chamber.
