Fico: New Ministers Not Smer-SD Nominees, But Independents (2)

Bratislava, March 19 (TASR) - New Government ministers, Samuel Migal and Rudolf Huliak, will serve as independent nominees and report only to the Prime Minister, with their appointments being the price paid for the restoration of governing majority as well as the outcome of inability of Voice-SD and SNS party leaderships to arrive at a deal with their own lawmakers, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) declared in his social media post on Wednesday. "By having replacement nominees, willing to support the governing coalition, take up the posts of new ministers and state secretaries, the governing coalition has reacquired not only the capability to pass bills in Parliament but also elect, for instance, the new House chair," said Fico, who rejected the notion that new Investment Minister Samuel Migal and Sports and Tourism Minister Rudolf Huliak are Smer-SD nominees. Fico also refuses to simply let some people shuck off their responsibility for the carelessness, with which they put together their party election slates. "With an eye towards saving the governing coalition and with enormous help from Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD), I embraced an absurd political operation, the likes of which I've not only never done in my 33 years in politics, but never ever seen anything matching the level of absurdity of what happened in the ranks of Voice-SD political party," noted the Prime Minister, who believes that President Peter Pellegrini voiced his frustration during the appointment of Migal as well. The crisis, which was dragging on for several months and which led to an absurd political structure in the Government, could have been resolved with a snap of the finger by SNS and Voice-SD party leaderships, thinks Fico, who pointed out that governing the country with a majority of 76 legislators is practically impossible. "On Monday, we'll have a session of the coalition council at which we're going to discuss the next course of action in Parliament and also the election of the House chair. Smer honors its commitment stemming from the coalition agreement, according to which it is Voice that proposes a nominee for the post of the House chair, but we need to say openly how and thanks to whom we've got to the place where we're now, too," said Fico. mf