President Sees Kmec's Resignation as Contribution to Better Political Culture

Bratislava, 19 November (TASR) - I consider the resignation of Vice-premier for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy Peter Kmec (Voice-SD) to be a contribution to a better political culture in Slovakia, President Peter Pellegrini stated on Wednesday, adding that his resignation will allow for a transparent review of the controversial results of calls for research and development, regarding which several opposition MPs have filed criminal complaints in recent weeks. "According to information that has been circulating in our media in recent weeks, doubts or suspicions have arisen as to whether all the processes related to the current calls that concern our industry and innovation environment are in order, or whether some of them raise doubts. Therefore, I perceive your decision to resign as both a personal and political decision, and I personally see it as a contribution to building a better political culture in our country," said the president. Pellegrini thanked Kmec for his two years in office and pointed out that during his term, Slovakia managed to obtain more than €2 billion under the fourth, fifth, and sixth payment requests from Slovakia's Recovery and Resilience Plan. The seventh application, worth approximately €700 million, is to be submitted next week. The president called on Education Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD), whom he appointed to head the Office of the Vice-Premier for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy on a temporary basis, to end all inspection processes related to the disputed calls as efficiently and quickly as possible. am/df