An extraordinary session of the Slovak Parliament will probably meet in the first week of September to take up a motion to oust Labour Minister Viera Tomanová.
The session is the result of a meeting on August 13 between the top representatives of opposition parties the SDKÚ-DS, KDH and SMK.
"The main reason for our decision is the minister's overall performance, which we view as incompetent and irresponsible," SDKÚ leader and former prime minister Mikuláš Dzurinda said after the meeting.
In the meantime, former labour minister Iveta Radičová dismissed current minister Viera Tomanová’s questions on the legality of subsidies granted by the ministry during Radičová’s tenure in early 2006. Radičová countered that the media analysed the subsidies at the time and agreed with them. In addition, MPs from the-then strongest opposition party Smer-SD (which won the 2006 election and nominated Tomanová to her post) had no objection either.
Tomanová is accused of awarding a subsidy totaling Sk1.5-million (€45,000) to Privilégium, an NGO that owes Sk17 million in contributions to state-pension provider Socialná Poisťovňa and Sk3 million in tax arrears.
-TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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