Peter Pellegrini (l) and President Andrej Kiska (r) (source: TASR)
President Andrej Kiska will appoint the new government of Peter Pellegrini (Smer) on March 22. He said this after meeting with the new members of the cabinet.
However, he is still not satisfied with the government’s composition.
“But as a head of state, I will not cross the line set by the constitution and constitutional customs,” Kiska said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Gašpar may leave
Compared with the current government, there will be several changes: since Pellegrini is leaving the post of deputy prime minister for investments and informatisation, this will go to current Košice Mayor Richard Raši (Smer). Ľubica Laššáková (Smer) will become the new culture minister, while Gábor Gál (Most-Híd) will fill the post at the Justice Ministry.
The most debated post of the interior minister will be given to current Health Minister Tomáš Drucker, who will be replaced by the current State Secretary of the Health Ministry, Andrea Kalavská.
When meeting with Drucker, Kiska asked for the dismissal of the Police Corps President, Tibor Gašpar, as Drucker implied.
He said the president told him it is “also necessary to solve this question”.
“I understand the current situation, emotions, state and I’m ready to act,” Drucker said, as quoted by the Denník N daily, adding that he first needs to learn more about the situation.
He promised to act soon.
Cabinet needs to win the support of parliament
Kiska said after meeting with the nominees for governmental posts that most of the politicians have already said they would support Pellegrini’s government.
He reminded that three weeks ago, when the government of Robert Fico (Smer) was falling apart, he had promised to lead the country through the political crisis and difficult situation after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová.
“Aware of this responsibility, I used my powers on the edge of constitutional customs and possibilities,” Kiska said, as quoted by TASR. “I rejected the first proposal to appoint the government.”
He stressed that the new cabinet still needs to win the support of both the parliament and the public.
“It will be a hard task under current conditions,” Kiska said, as quoted by TASR. “I hope every minister is aware of this responsibility. As a president, I will take care of them not forgetting about this responsibility.”
Following its appointment by the president, the government will summon a session at which it will adopt a programme statement. Subsequently, it will ask the parliament to summon the session at which it will introduce the programme and ask for support.
The parliamentary session will probably be summoned on March 23, parliament’s spokesperson Tomáš Kostelník told TASR.
