The Slovak National Party (SNS) announced on August 7 its withdrawal from the governing coalition. The move crystalises inherent instability in the disparate government.

Cobbled together by Prime Minister Robert Fico in the wake of the March 2016 election in which his Smer party surprisingly lost its majority, the coalition has proved more stable than expected. However, there have been regular suggestions that the SNS in particular stands ready to split from Fico under the right conditions.

That was presumed to mean a gain in support that would increase its leverage might cause ructions. No such surge has been seen, but the SNS is under pressure over a scandal regarding EU funds at the science and education ministry that it controls.

The withdrawal of the SNS was announced by leader and parliamentary chairman Andrej Danko in a letter to his coalition partners Smer and ethnic Hungarian party Most-Hid. Danko claims the move is necesssary to reset the rules within the coalition. He urged the coalition to launch talks on a new coalition agreement.

“I'm thereby withdrawing from the coalition agreement signed between Smer-SD, SNS and Most-Hid parties on September 1, 2016," Danko wrote to his coalition partners. He cited the need to set new priorities and draft a new budget.

"The favourable socio-economic situation of 2017 shows the need to focus on new challenges and priorities that need to be reflected in the coalition agreement and the new government manifesto. When the country's economy is doing well, citizens themselves must feel it, too," the letter states.

The opposition was swift to connect the move to a recent scandal centred on the science and education ministry, which is controlled by Danko’s party. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has launched a probe into the use of EU funds by the ministry. A petition calling for a non-confidence vote on Peter Plavcan, the minister in charge, has collected the required number of signatures.

A failure to agree a new coalition agreement would likely provoke snap elections. Polls published in late July showed the current coalition would fail to win enough seats between them to secure a majority. Smer would win just 26.5% of the vote, SNS 10.3% and Most Hid 6.2%.

Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) polled at 14.2%. The neo-nazi People's Party Our Slovakia/ĽSNS would take 9.1%. Sme Rodina and the non-parliamentary Christian Democratic Movement-KDH also crossed the 5% threshold to enter parliament in the survey.