Slovakia’s Environment Ministry will reopen in November as 76 votes were cast in parliament on September 7 to override President Ivan Gašparovič's veto and the amendment to the General Administration Act amendment was passed a second time, authorising the ministry, the TASR newswire reported. The ministry will be headed up by a nominee from Most-Híd party, yet unnamed.
President Gašparovič vetoed the amendment on the grounds that the ministry does not handle only environmental issues but also has responsibility over forests, water and ecology. “Recent events indicate that the (currently combined Agriculture, Environment and Regional Development) Ministry can better handle serious natural disasters,” the president said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Béla Bugár from Most-Híd said that by using his veto power the president has taken responsibility for slowing down the process of re-forming the Environment Ministry precisely at a problematic time vis-a-vis the floods and mudslides.
“That is, in times when we need that ministry as soon as possible,” said Bugár. He added that currently there is only the Agriculture, Environment and Regional Development Ministry led by Zsolt Simon to tackle the problems at hand. The Environment Ministry as an independent ministry was abolished effective July 1, 2010, by the previous government.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
8. Sep 2010 at 10:00
