Národná Koalícia chair Rudolf Huliak. (source: TASR - Jaroslav Novák)
President Zuzana Čaputová will not appoint ultranationalist MP Rudolf Huliak (SNS/Národná Koalícia) as the new environment minister.
Huliak, who is the mayor of Očová village in central Slovakia and a passionate hunter, denies climate change, attacks LGBT+ community verbally, and disseminates various pieces of disinformation.
Smer leader Robert Fico, who submitted a list of ministers to the president earlier this week, was asked to come up with a different name.
Huliak is a danger to the environment
As the president said, Huliak is not the right fit for the job because he questions Slovakia’s long-term environmental policy and international commitments. In addition, a candidate who says that climate change is a hoax cannot stand at the helm of the ministry whose goal is to protect nature.
At the same time, a candidate who publicly approves violent dealings with ideological opponents, especially from the ranks of conservationists and activists, cannot, according to the president, be qualified to lead the Environment Ministry.
In the president’s view, there are strong legal and constitutional grounds that disqualify him for the job.
“His appointment would not guarantee the proper functioning of this constitutional body,” the president concluded.
SNS stands up for Huliak
The ultranationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) insists on its nominee and has no intention of withdrawing Huliak from the list. The decision will be up to Fico, though. In 2009, when Fico ruled Slovakia for the first time, he decided to take away the Environment Ministry from the Slovak National Party, his coalition partner, because of corruption scandals.
On Thursday, SNS leader Andrej Danko called on Čaputová to respect the election results and to not go beyond her constitutional competences. Smer is said to be insisting on the nomination as well, according to TV Markíza.
Huliak himself objected to the president’s decision.
“She just proved that she is not the president of all citizens,” he said.
The SNS parliamentary caucus will have 10 MPs, but only SNS leader Danko is an SNS member. To make it more stable and have more control over the caucus, Danko is alleged to have nominated Huliak, chair of the nationalist party Národná Koalícia, for minister. In this way, Huliak’s substitute, who comes from SNS, would become an MP. Danko could apply a similar approach to other non-SNS members and MPs in the caucus who might be offered jobs, for example, at ministries.
Huliak ran on SNS’ slate in the 2023 election. He received 58,875 preference votes.
Sports minister’s contacts
Disinformation TV presenter Martina Šimkovičová and Huliak are not the only controversial candidates nominated for ministers. SNS deputy chair Ján Krišanda should become sports and tourism minister from January 2024 when the ministry is said to be established.
Krišanda, who is a certified judo coach and a sports official, exchanged more than a hundred text messages with convicted and imprisoned businessman Marian Kočner between 2014 and 2017. Kočner is also believed to have masterminded the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in 2018.
Krišanda and Kočner discussed business activities with the state and influencing the courts, writes the Sme daily.
Moreover, Krišanda knows oligarch Anton Siekel. Siekel, who is considered to be connected to the Slovak National Party, heads the Slovak Olympic Committee. Krišanda proposed him for the job.
Siekel became rich thanks to the voucher privatisation in the nineties.
