Even though the coalition finally agreed on the shape of the revision to the Citizenship Act, this does not mean it will be passed in that form. Not if Igor Matovic from the Obycajni Ludia quartet of the SaS party has his way.
Matovic still plans to put his revision proposal to parliament, by which dual citizenship could only be granted to those people who have some proven bond to the other country, such as long-term study, work, business or strong family ties.
Matovic’s can now put his proposal to parliament because it has been endorsed by MPs of opposition party Smer-SD, which also submitted a similar revision proposal. A prescribed number of signatories is required before a revision proposal can be put before parliament.
None of the signatures are from the coalition, and Matovic said he had not even tempted any of them to sign it, because he knew that some probably would, and so they would become shunned black sheep. He also rejected the offer of recently expelled SNS MP, Anna Belousovova, who had allegedly offered to endorse the motion.
It was the head of the Smer-SD caucus, Pavol Paska, who came to Matovic offering their support. Matovic confirmed the stale-mate situation by saying he would not support the coalition-agreed revision of the law unless they accepted his changes.
Matovic is more swayed toward the Smer-SD draft of the act, and he even said that the law had to be changed because it was bad, but that the Smer proposal was closest to his own idea of how the law should look, and so he would support that if necessary. He does not think this would be against the Coalition Agreement.
Matovic pointed out that the Coalition Agreement talks about not voting with the opposition on fundamental issues, but that there was no definition of what was a fundamental issue, which he says is a fault in the agreement. He also believes that his proposal is in line with the government manifesto, which declared that it would eliminate the negative effects of the Citizenship Act on Slovak citizens.
Matovic noted that nobody from the coalition had come to talk with him about the issue, and that anyone stating otherwise was a liar. He did speak briefly with Bela Bugar on the issue last week, though.
So another face-off within the coalition, and one which Smer-SD willl only be too eager to fuel.