Construction and Regional Development Minister Marián Janušek (Slovak National Party/SNS) will remain in his post after surviving a no-confidence vote in parliament on December 9. Out of the 123 MPs present in the chamber, only 51 voted for his dismissal, while 72 were against it. The opposition submitted the no-confidence vote in response to a disputed tender worth Sk3.6 billion (€120 million) at the ministry, which, according to the opposition, was non-transparent and involved cronyism.
The opposition objects to the fact that a contract was signed with a consortium including Avocat and Zamedia, companies that are allegedly close to SNS chairman Ján Slota. In his speech in parliament, Janušek accused opposition MPs of simply repeating lies about the tender that have appeared in the media for weeks. Prime Minister Robert Fico has also expressed doubts over the legality of the contract, but wants to wait for the results of inspections at the ministry that are being carried out by the Public Procurements Office (ÚVO) and the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ). TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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