PRIME Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda announced that he accepts the proposal to appoint Jirko Malchárek, a member of Ľubomír Lintner's New Citizens’s Alliance (ANO) platform, to the post of Economy Minister. Dzurinda is ready to submit this proposal to President Ivan Gašparovič after consulting with coalition partner parties the Christian Democrats (KDH) and the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), the TASR news agency reported.
Dzurinda also announced that he had reached an agreement on support for the government with the group of liberal ANO party MPs surrounding MP Ľubomír Lintner, the former party vice-chairman, until the end of the mandate (scheduled to end in September 2006).
Coalition parties the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), the KDH and the SMK last week ended their co-operation with the ANO, led by former Economy Minister Pavol Rusko, and decided to co-operate with the Lintner-led ANO caucus, which has proposed Malchárek as the new Economy Minister.
Compiled by Marta Ďurianová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
