Fico Ready to Resolve Environment Minister Appointment with SNS

Bratislava, 30 September (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) is ready to work with the junior coalition SNS party to finalise the appointment of the new environment minister, Smer-SD told TASR following a meeting of its party leadership on Wednesday.

Maintaining the government's majority will require enormous effort from now on, the party noted.

"Smer-SD has been doing everything to ensure government stability since the coalition was formed in 2023. It has not lost a single MP and recognises that, as the largest and most stable governing party, it cannot allow internal disputes between coalition partners to dominate government policy. Such disputes cannot overshadow the construction of hospitals, roads and a nuclear power source, the country's vision, economic growth, low unemployment or a peace-oriented sovereign foreign policy in all four cardinal directions," the party declared.

Smer-SD also called on its coalition partners to govern responsibly, with the approval of a realistic budget being one such example of responsibility. "Slovakia simply needs a stable government today that's capable of making decisions, even if it has to rely on only a narrow parliamentary majority," it noted.

According to the governing party, Slovakia can weather turbulence and dangerous situations, including war, only through international cooperation and a basic level of stability, including the ability to push through necessary solutions in the government and Parliament.

The party leadership of coalition Smer-SD met at the Government Office in Bratislava on Wednesday evening. The meeting was convened after the opposition, together with almost all MPs from the SNS parliamentary caucus, voted on Tuesday (29 September) to express no confidence in Tomas Taraba as environment minister.