SNS Sets September 30 Deadline for Slovak Minister Taraba to Quit

Slovakia's junior coalition party SNS on September 28 demanded that Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba resign by September 30, threatening to join opposition party Progressive Slovakia in a parliamentary vote to recall him if he refuses, according to TASR and Hospodárske noviny.¹³

An ultimatum and a promise recalled

SNS said Taraba should honor a commitment he made to Prime Minister Robert Fico and SNS chairman Andrej Danko to step down by September 30. Taraba recalled a May conversation in which Danko said he would bring signatures of all SNS members of parliament calling for the resignation.¹³

Taraba said he was surprised that SNS, historically opposed to Progressive Slovakia, would align with that party in parliament to remove him. "Som šokovaný, keď počúvam, že Slovenská národná strana sa chce v parlamente spojiť s hnutím Progresívne Slovensko," he said.¹³⁴

Not all SNS-nominated officials have backed the push. Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová and government plenipotentiary Peter Kotlár, both SNS nominees, had not signed the call for Taraba's resignation as of September 28, according to TASR, Hospodárske noviny and Standard.sk.¹³⁴

Recall motion and a meeting with the president

Progressive Slovakia intends to submit a recall motion against Taraba in parliament. Fico announced he will meet President Peter Pellegrini on Monday regarding the recall motion. Standard.sk reported, without corroboration from other sources, that PS's filing is meant to test the coalition's numbers and cohesion, and that Fico's meeting with Pellegrini is aimed at officially withdrawing the original recall proposal.¹³⁴

Taraba, describing a political tie-up between SNS and the opposition ahead of municipal elections as absurd, said he would continue his work until the end. "takéto politické spojenie s opozíciou pred komunálnymi voľbami je absurdné," he said, adding that "on sa bude venovať svojej práci do poslednej chvíle."⁴

Wider coalition strain

Bloomberg reported that SNS's demand for Taraba's removal stems from his growing political independence and disputes over ministry tenders and influence, and that Fico has threatened snap elections amid the coalition infighting, which could be held as soon as January. These details have not been corroborated by the Slovak-language sources.²