Minister of Construction and Regional Development Igor Štefanov (a nominee of the Slovak National Party, SNS) will not resign from his post, his party has declared. He will thus reject a request to this effect made by Prime Minister Robert Fico.
The SNS will also ask President Ivan Gašparovič to turn down any proposal by the prime minister to dismiss Štefanov from the post of construction minister, SNS leader Ján Slota told the SITA newswire on Wednesday, March 10.
Fico convened a news conference on Tuesday, March 9, to announce that he was asking Construction and Regional Development Minister Igor Štefanov to resign. He did so one day after the release of the results of an inquiry by the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) at the Construction Ministry. The NKÚ found that €32,000 was spent without reasonable purpose on the basis of the so-called bulletin-board tender.
Fico added that if the president accepts Štefanov's resignation, he will suggest that Ján Mikolaj (SNS) be given responsibility for the ministry until it disappears as the result of a reorganisation on July 1. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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