President Pleased to Appoint Experts as New Ministers
Bratislava, September 13 (TASR) – In her speech when appointing new ministers on Tuesday, President Zuzana Caputova praised the fact that the new ministers are experts, asking them to run their ministries in line with the Constitution and public expectations.
However, they will also need votes from political opponents to push their proposals through Parliament, she noted.
The president appointed the new ministers at the Presidential Palace. The Economy Ministry will be led by Karel Hirman, the Justice Ministry by Viliam Karas and the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry by Rastislav Kacer. Premier Eduard Heger (OLaNO) has been tasked with managing the Education Ministry on a temporary basis.
“Nothing less is currently at stake than to guide our country through the crisis and help people who may be brought to their knees by the crisis,” said the head of state. The biggest expectations in this sense are connected with the Economy Ministry. Karel Hirman is known as an experienced expert. The president expects him to support the business environment as well.
Caputova views new Foreign Affairs Minister Rastislav Kacer as an experienced diplomat and expert in security policy. She expects him to explain further the context of Russia’s aggression to the public and thus contribute to the fight against disinformation and hybrid threats.
Viliam Karas as the new head of the Justice Ministry must earn the respect of all components of the judiciary and public in the same way as he did as head of the Slovak Bar Association, said the president.
She tasked Premier Heger with managing the Education Ministry on a temporary basis, requesting that the name of a new minister be announced to her as soon as possible.
It wasn’t easy for the president to accept the resignations of the quartet of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) ministers. According to her, their performances in their posts cannot be evaluated comprehensively, as they ended midway through the ministers’ tenures.
