Bratislava, June 3 (TASR) - Vice-Premier and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) rejected at a press conference on Monday the claims made by the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) that Smer-SD is abusing the assassination attempt on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and trying to mobilise its supporters for the European Parliament (EP) elections, claiming that PS is just scaremongering and stirring up emotions without a single real fact.

Kalinak pointed out that in his remarks on the assassination attempt he had never mentioned the EP elections and was only interested in the health condition of the premier and a detailed analysis of the case and its motive. "If I wanted to misuse this assassination attempt for political purposes, I'd act exactly as the opposition did in 2018 and I would call for the resignation of those who were allegedly behind this assassination attempt," he said, denying that Smer-SD is using all the means of dictatorship. He described as dictatorship the measures taken under the former governments, such as compulsory vaccinations and curfews.

The vice-premier criticised the PS' statements and said it hasn't learnt from the events of the past few days, also expressing a belief that the party feels guilty. According to him, it was the attitude of the present opposition in the past as well as the actions of the media that contributed to the assassination attempt of the prime minister. Together with head of the parliamentary defence and security committee Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), they pointed out, for example, the vulgar banners at protests against Smer-SD, the calls for criminalisation of its representatives, and the abuse of criminal law during the time when the current opposition was in government.