"The budget presented today is a scam on the citizens, and on everyone. Not only does it further indebt us, bringing us closer to bankruptcy, but it is also a fraud against all those people who have had to tighten their belts over the past three years due to so-called consolidation. Mr. Kamenický and Mr. Fico officially admitted today that the deficit, that 5 percent, is the same as when they started, but in the meantime, they extracted 7 billion euros from the people through three consolidations, paid for by the self-employed, employees, companies, and the middle class. Today they are telling us, all citizens, that it was all unnecessary," said the chairman of Progressive Slovakia, Michal Šimečka, who noted that the approved budget only confirms that it would be best for Slovakia if Robert Fico's government immediately ended and the country went to early elections. #ekonomika (translated)