Voice-SD: Coalition Not Discussing Swapping of Ministries, Only House Chair Post

Bratislava, April 12 (TASR) - The governing coalition isn't discussing the issue of swapping ministries between the coalition parties, and filling the parliamentary chair post is the only personnel issue that it is currently dealing with, said the coalition Voice-SD party on Friday. "Voice-SD strongly rejects media speculation about a potential swapping of ministries within the governing coalition. These issues weren't and aren't on the agenda of coalition talks," said party spokesperson Karolina Ducka. According to her, the responsibility of the governing parties for individual ministries is still preserved in line with the valid coalition agreement. Representatives of the coalition parties held a Coalition Council meeting on Wednesday (April 10). They dealt with the coordination of the coalition parties' procedure at the next regular parliamentary session due to start on April 16. "The coalition parties agreed on everything," TASR was told by the Government Office on Wednesday. The coalition is seeking a nominee for the parliamentary chair post after the incumbent chair Peter Pellegrini was elected as the new president of Slovakia. According to him, the new parliamentary chair should be either Investment Minister Richard Rasi, or Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (both Voice-SD). Premier and Smer-SD leader Robert Fico said after the presidential election at the weekend that the coalition will have to deal with certain practical issues in addition to its commitments within a short period of time now that Pellegrini has been elected as president. Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko said on Monday (April 8) that his party is ready to negotiate conditions for the future functioning of the governing coalition, as the political map is being fundamentally redrawn. ko/df