THE GOVERNING coalition will not remove the current head of the Nation’s Memory Institute (ÚPN), Ivan Petranský, from his position. Petranský, who was originally nominated by the Slovak National Party (SNS), will lead the institution until February 2013, the Sme daily reported.
“We agreed that Petranský will stay till the end of his tenure,” said Jozef Mikuš, chair of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) parliamentary caucus, as quoted by Sme. Pavol Hrušovský, the head of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) caucus, added that the coalition wanted to act correctly.
A dispute between the ÚPN and the coalition began when Deputy Prime Minister for Minorities Rudolf Chmel presented a draft amendment to the law on the ÚPN in which he proposed withdrawing Petranský and the whole management of the institute at the beginning of 2012.
Petranský, together with former dissidents František Mikloško and Ján Čarnogurský, and historian Milan Zemko, criticised the measure and said that the ruling coalition only wanted to take control of the ÚPN.
