Kmec Delivers Resignation to President, Next Steps to Be Known in Coming Days

Bratislava, 15 November (TASR) - Vice-premier for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy Peter Kmec (Voice-SD) has delivered his resignation to the Presidential Palace on Saturday, with President Peter Pellegrini expected to deal with it in the coming days in order to announce further course of action, TASR reported on the basis of information from the Presidential Office's communications department on the same day. Kmec confirmed on Saturday that he was leaving his post over controversial results of research and development grant calls, but he didn't admit any major errors. By leaving his post, he wants to protect the reputation of the coalition Voice-SD party, Slovakia and industry. On Friday (14 November), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced on social media that he would ask Pellegrini to dismiss Kmec. On the same day, several opposition parties announced that they were filing criminal complaints with respect to research and development grant calls issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy, headed by Kmec. On Thursday (13 November), Voice-SD party leader and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok instructed Kmec to suspend the calls immediately and launch a thorough audit of the entire process, adding that no further steps should be taken until all circumstances are explained and verified. jrg