Three parties sign coalition agreement in Slovakia
In Slovakia, SMER-SD, Voice-SD (Hlas), and the Slovak National Party (SNS) officially signed a coalition agreement. According to the agreement, they shared positions in the government.
Aktuality reports.
Robert Fico (Smer), Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party) and Peter Pellegrini (Hlas) agreed on the functioning of the coalition, the redistribution of positions in the government, as well as the confirmation of Slovakia's foreign policy orientation towards NATO and the European Union, despite the fact that Robert Fico and Andrej Danko had criticised these organisations before the election.
The composition of the new government has already been agreed upon by 80%. After signing the coalition agreement, Robert Fico plans to submit the names of the new ministers to President Zuzana Čaputová, but first, they must be approved by the party's internal bodies. This should happen in the coming days.
Robert Fico wants to speed up the formation of the government in order to be in time for the European Council summit on October 27.
As for government positions, Smer will control the Ministries of Defence, Transport, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Agriculture. "Hlas will control the Ministries of the Interior, Economy, Labour, Information, Education, Health, and the post of Deputy Prime Minister for European Funds and the Recovery Plan. The Slovak National Party retains the Ministry of Environment, Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Coalition partners have already agreed to redistribute positions in parliament. According to Aktuality, Peter Pellegrini is to become the head of the National Council, i.e. the parliament. All three parties will hold the vice presidency, and, traditionally, one seat will be held by a representative of the opposition.
However, some ministerial candidates may be vetoed by the president. According to the newspaper, Zuzana Čaputová is ready to intervene if the candidate's qualifications or previous work were in serious doubt.
Photo: David Istok
