Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister for a Knowledge-based Society, European Affairs, Human Rights and Minorities, Dušan Čaplovič, was put in charge of the Environment Ministry by President Ivan Gašparovič on Friday, August 28, the TASR newswire wrote.
Čaplovič's temporary appointment came in the wake of the ousting of Viliam Turský (a Slovak National Party nominee), who signed his dismissal document in a hospital in Bratislava earlier the same day.
It remains unclear how long Čaplovič will head the ministry, however.
On Friday Čaplovič promised to cancel the questionable contract on the sale of excess CO2 emissions quotas signed by the Environment Ministry and the firm Interblue Group, as well as two other controversial contracts on disposal of fly ashes and on rental of land plots around the Danube River arm in Jarovce. Pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision, Čaplovic will also order cancellation of a controversial waste dump in Pezinok, the SITA newswire wrote.
Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on August 19 that he would propose Turský's ouster to Gašparovič and would take the ministry away from the Slovak National Party, pointing to what he called the repeated inability of SNS nominees to handle decision-making processes at the ministry. TASR
Compiled by Jana Liptáková from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
