Slovak Agriculture Minister Stanislav Becík will resign on September 9. He agreed on the date of his resignation during a meeting with Vladimír Mečiar, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), the party that nominated him as minister.
Unconfirmed reports in the media have suggested that at the root of Becík’s effective sacking (he has previously professed to uncertainty about why he was being asked to resign) lay dissatisfaction among Mečiar and other HZDS leaders with the minister’s actions at state-run forestry company Lesy SR, where he completely reshuffled the senior management following public protests by employees and accusations of mismanagement in the company. The reports suggest that HZDS leaders were unhappy that after dismissing the company's management, he appointed people close to the ruling Smer party, led by Prime Minsiter Robert Fico, rather than clients of the HZDS.
Becík told the SITA newswire on Thursday, September 3, he would not accept a potential offer from the prime minister to take up the vacant post of environment minister.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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