Fico is not planning to resign, the exclusion of rebels from Hlas surprised him. Šutaj Eštok and Danko were given an ultimatum

No plans to leave, again admits early elections

Reacting to Friday's massive demonstrations in favour of the country's pro-European orientation, the prime minister said they were organised on the basis of lies.

According to Fico, the government is not planning the country's withdrawal from the EU. He described this as lies. Fico's party colleague and deputy chairman of the National Assembly Tibor Gašpar admitted this possibility for the future last week.

He also rejected a call by the organisers of the aforementioned civic rallies for him to resign for the sake of the country's future. "The government can only be replaced if there are elections," he said. Again, he did not rule out early elections, but described them as a technical solution to the problems in the ruling coalition, but did not consider them a "good political solution".

Demonstrations to reaffirm the country's pro-European direction began to be called by civic activists after Fico's December meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the organisers, around 60 thousand protesters gathered in Bratislava on Friday, four times more than at the demonstration two weeks ago.

The state plans to expel

Referring to a possible coup in Slovakia, he said a list of people who could be administratively expelled from Slovakia because they have connections abroad is being prepared.

According to Fico, this is supposed to be a group consisting of dozens of people. The expulsions are expected to take place in the next few days. "We are investigating when they crossed into Slovakia, where they are, what they are doing," the prime minister said, adding that financial flows are also being examined.

There will be further negotiations with Kiev

The prime minister also commented on the negotiations with the Ukrainian government, the next one could be in March or April. It should take place somewhere on the border between Ukraine and the Slovak Republic.

Rebels in the Voice are over

The Prime Minister was surprised by the decision of the Hlas-SD, which announced late on Friday evening the expulsion of MPs Radomír Šalitroš and Samuel Migaľ from its ranks. He wants to understand the move better first.

"I will need to explain this decision," Fico said. "If there were a hundred of us in the ruling coalition I can imagine that we would say goodbye to someone, but there are 79 of us and two have already been expelled and the problem with Rudolf Huliak (non-attached) and the other two is still not solved," he said, adding that he also does not know what Hlas-SD will do with MPs Ján Ferenčák and Roman Malatinec.

Ultimatum for coalition partners

According to Fico, the SNS and Hlas-SD parties are unable to maintain the number of MPs with whom they entered the governing coalition. In his own words, he bears no responsibility for this.

"Andrej Danko and Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas-SD) are responsible for this. (...) I repeat to them, don't ask me to solve your internal problems," Fico said. He claims that the heads of the coalition parties have until the end of March to resolve the situation.

See the report on the sacking of two members of Hlas-SD.

He announced changes to the constitution

At the same time, Fico wants to wait for the course of the February parliamentary session. It is supposed to discuss health laws and the construction law. "Everything will be cut in March," he noted.

The prime minister also announced changes to the constitution. He will seek their support across the political spectrum. Asked whether he had already discussed support with the opposition KDH, he replied that they were in contact on professional lines for the time being. "We have a different view on how to enshrine in the constitution that in moral and ethical issues the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic always applies and cannot be regulated differently by an act of the European Union. So we want to regulate this. If we like the KDH's modification, we will easily insert it into this proposal," Fico said. At the same time, he wants to address the enshrinement of the two sexes, the topic of child adoption and the educational programme of the Slovak Republic, which must be based on the principles and principles of the constitution.

"We will present this to the public, we will give them the opportunity to comment on it, but I would not like to go into some losing battle. If it is seen that there is no interest in it, we will not submit it to the National Council of the Slovak Republic," Fico said.

The election of the head of the Slovak National Assembly will not take place at the February session, the prime minister said. He does not consider it vital to address the issue. If there is an agreement on the position between SNS and Hlas, Smer is ready to respect it. Fico wants to address the issue in March.