The Cabinet is still planning to sack the director general of the state-run social security provider Sociálna Poisťovňa (SP), Ivan Bernátek. But Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family Viera Tomanová now proposes to do so at the first cabinet session after the summer holiday on August 20, according to ministry spokesman Michal Stuška in comments to the SITA newswire. The Cabinet should also then nominate a new director general of SP, but Stuška added that it is not yet known on what date Bernátek will be dismissed.
Prime Minister Robert Fico asked Tomanová to prepare a proposal to dismiss Bernátek as of August 1. The present director general of SP said he respected the Fico’s opinion and said he never thought he would remain in his post forever. According to the commercial TV channel Markíza, which recorded a conversation between the prime minister and the labour minister after Fico announced Bernátek’s impending dismissal, the departing director general will receive a post in Brussels. Fico assured Minister Tomanová that he would help her find Bernátek a new job in remarks that were picked up by a microphone thought to be switched off. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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