The future Slovak opposition, consisting of Smer and the Slovak National Party (SNS), will be given a free hand to install their nominee as chairman of the Public Procurement Bureau (ÚVO), Prime Minister-designate Iveta Radičová said on Tuesday, July 6.
“Prime Minister Robert Fico called me today, asking me if it’s still valid that the ÚVO will belong to the opposition. My response was positive. All institutions that were previously headed by the opposition will continue to be in opposition hands,” Radičová confirmed.
She added that Fico had asked her if he could name his candidate for the post at the last session of his cabinet, to be held today, July 7. Radičová said she had agreed.
Current ÚVO boss Béla Angyal’s five-year term in office expired on March 10, 2010, but the Fico Government adopted a law allowing him to stay on. Angyal was a nominee of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), but switched to Most-Híd during his term.
Fico explained the delay in replacing Angyal by saying that the top position at the ÚVO must always be an opposition representative, and so a new chairman should be selected only after the June 12 parliamentary elections.
The then-opposition parties, most of them now set to form the new government, criticised the move at the time as ‘purposeful’, saying Angyal no longer represented their stance.
Source: TASR
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