Kiska Not Happy with Sakova's Bid; Must Still Appoint Her

Bratislava, April 24 (TASR) – President Andrej Kiska is not satisfied with the nomination of Denisa Sakova for the post of interior minister, but he has to appoint her, TASR learnt from a video posted by the president on Facebook on Tuesday.

“I told it to the prime minister, and I’m saying it publicly, as president, I have no power not to appoint an individual member of the Government, but I view the nomination of the long-standing state secretary from the [ex-interior minister Robert] Kalinak era as a missed opportunity,” said Kiska, adding that ignoring the people’s demands for reforms at the Interior Ministry and in the police is unacceptable for him.

According to the president, the governing majority still didn’t get what had happened in Slovakia after the murders of journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova. “It didn’t understand that the people’s already very lousy trust in the state and its ability to protect them and give them justice has completed fallen apart. It doesn’t want to understand that we all need to restore this trust, regardless of political affiliation,” said the president.

Kiska went on to say that the Cabinet, by nominating Sakova as interior minister, “failed to send a convincing signal that it’s serious about trying to restore public trust”.

Sakova was chosen for the post by the senior coalition Smer-SD party, which has the Interior Ministry based on the coalition agreement. According to the Constitution, the president appoints the member of the Government proposed by the premier. The president doesn’t have the option to refuse the proposal.