Future Coalition Divides Gov't Posts in 9:3:2:1 Ratio
Bratislava, March 16 (TASR) – The four parties Smer-SD, SNS, Most-Hid and Network reached an agreement on the division of Government posts, Smer-SD chairman Robert Fico announced after the talks at Government Office on Wednesday.
As the party with the largest amount of election votes, Smer-SD will receive the posts of Prime Minister, Vice-Premier for Investments, Interior Ministry, Finance Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Health Ministry, Economy, Culture and Labour Ministries.
SNS is to take over the Defence Ministry, Education and Agriculture Ministries.
Most-Hid will nominate ministers for the Justice Ministry and the Environment Ministry, whereas Siet (Network) will get the Transportation Ministry.
Robert Fico is likely to remain prime minister, Robert Kalinak interior minister, Miroslav Lajcak foreign affairs minister and, finally, Jan Richter labour minister. Former MP Jan Podmanicky is being considered as the new culture minister, whereas the Health Ministry is likely to be headed by a non-partisan nominee.
It is Lucia Zitnanska, who is expected to take over the Justice Ministry and Laszlo Solymos the Environment Ministry.
Andrej Hrnciar was originally proposed for the post of transport minister, but in all likelihood, Network won’t nominate one of its MPs, as first substitute Zuzana Zimenova already announced that, if given an MP seat, she won’t support the Cabinet.
The parties also agreed that the position of Parliamentary Chairman will go to SNS (Andrej Danko). Smer-SD, Most-Hid and Siet will nominate one vice-chair each (likely Marek Madaric, Bela Bugar and Radoslav Prochazka) and the remaining vice-chair seat will belong to the Opposition.
“We’ve arrived at an agreement to form the governing coalition,” said Fico. “I’ll submit the agreement to President Andrej Kiska as soon as possible, so that we will enable him to set a date for the inaugural Parliament session.”
The four parties also agreed to extend powers of the Vice-Premier for Investments significantly, increasing the portfolio’s profile.
