Prime Minister Robert Fico brought an official proposal to President Ivan Gašparovič to appoint Zdenka Kramplová to the post of Agriculture Minister
on November 27.
Kramplová was nominated by the HZDS party after Gašparovič accepted a proposal from the prime minister to recall Miroslav Jureňa, another HZDS nominee, from the post of agriculture minister.
Fico said Jureňa bore the undeniable political responsibility for suspicious land transfers at the Slovak Land Fund (SPF), because he had the right to appoint and recall the fund's deputy director, who signed the disputed contracts. The land transfer scandal has caused this government’s biggest coalition crisis so far.
The HZDS considers Jureňa's firing a breach of the coalition agreement.
Jureňa was the first minister of the Fico's cabinet to be sacked. He will continue to serve as an MP.
Kramplová studied at the Agriculture University in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She served as minister of foreign affairs in the government of Vladimír Mečiar between 1997 and 1998. She is also the central secretary of the HZDS. Kramplová is married and has two children.
-SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
