Smer party leader and incoming prime minister Robert Fico confirmed on Thursday, March 29, that regional party boss Martin Glváč would be defence minister in his new government. Fico also confirmed that Smer MP Peter Žiga would become environment minister, the TASR newswire reported.
This morning's Sme daily summarised the government line-up, as revealed so far: the new interior minister will be Robert Kaliňák, with Jozef Buček and Marian Salon as his state secretaries (deputy ministers); Martin Glváč will be defence minister; Peter Kažimír will be finance minister, with Peter Pellegrini as his deputy; Ján Počiatek will serve as minister of transport, with František Palko as his deputy; Tomáš Borec, a non-partisan nominee, will be justice minister; Miroslav Lajčák, also a independent nominee, will become foreign minister, with Peter Burian serving as his state secretary; Ján Richter, Smer's general manager, will get the Labour Ministry and Branislav Ondruš will be his deputy; Zuzana Zvolenská, a former executive in the health insurance sector, will be the health minister; Jan Valko will be the economy minister; Peter Žiga will be environment minister; Dušan Čaplovič will lead the Education Ministry; and Marek Maďarič will serve as culture minister.
Either Ľubomír Jahnátek, an ex-minister of economy, or Stanislav Becík, an ex-minister of agriculture, will become agriculture minister, Sme reported. The Hospodárske Noviny financial daily, meanwhile, wrote that Jahnatek will take the minister's job and Stanislav Becík will probably become state secretary.
Sources: TASR, Sme, Hospodárske Noviny
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