Premier Asks President to Revoke Mandate to Manage Environment Ministry
Bratislava, 9 November (TASR) - The President's Office received on Monday a letter from Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), in which he requested that the mandate to manage the Environment Ministry should be revoked, TASR was told by the President's Office.
President Peter Pellegrini is expected to comment on this matter in the coming days.
The premier announced on Sunday (8 November) that he'd return the mandate to manage the Environment Ministry to the head of state. At the same time, he proposed that the ministry should be headed by a nominee from the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS). He justified his decision by citing a dispute between SNS chairman Andrej Danko and ex-environment minister Tomas Taraba. He stated that this dispute won't continue at his expense.
Fico has been tasked with heading the Environment Ministry since the end of September. This followed the president's dismissal of Taraba as head of the ministry, after Parliament had passed a vote of no confidence in him. It was the coalition SNS party that had called for Taraba's removal from office. SNS is proposing current Environment Ministry State Secretary Filip Kuffa as the new minister. The premier submitted this proposal to the president. However, Pellegrini asked the premier to reconsider Kuffa's nomination and to put forward a new proposal. He justified this by citing media reports suggesting the possibility of improper conduct by one of the organisations under the Environment Ministry, the potential mismanagement of the Slovak Republic's assets, and other similar suspicions. Fico, following an agreement with Danko, insisted on Kuffa's nomination. The head of state has referred the proposal to appoint Kuffa as environment minister to the Constitutional Court. He won't appoint him until he knows the court's ruling. Pellegrini wants the Constitutional Court to establish a framework for the president when appointing members of the government.
