Monitor: Michelko Says He Hasn't Been Offered Post of Culture Minister

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', 20 June) Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) MP Roman Michelko said in connection with a possible government reshuffle in the autumn that no one has offered him the post of culture minister. Also on the show, opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) vice-chair Viliam Karas said he believes the current government will remain in power until the next regular election, as confirmed by Parliament's vote of confidence in the government this week. However, Karas criticised the manner and form of the vote. "In this vote, expressing confidence in the government wasn't the key issue; instead, what mattered was to discuss the state of public finances, as required by the constitutional law on debt brake, and hear the government and especially the finance minister say how they intend - out of respect for the Constitution and the constitutional law - to address the situation in public finances. None of this could be heard at any point," said Karas. He believes the government will present one of the worst budgets, but declined to say whether KDH would vote in favour if it contained scrapping the transaction tax. Michelko did not rule out that this tax could be replaced by a different "tax mix". The discussion also touched upon potential personnel shuffles in the government. The reports that Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) could be replaced in his post were described by Michelko as speculation, while he thinks that there are no signs of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) losing confidence in him. With regard to possible personnel changes at the Environment Ministry, Michelko explained that, for the time being, the ministry's State Secretary Filip Kuffa is currently the leading candidate to head the ministry and replace Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (an SNS nominee). When discussing this year's municipal elections, Karas said he was convinced that KDH chair and current Presov region governor Milan Majersky would succeed in defending his post. Michelko noted that SNS has not yet reached an agreement with anyone on supporting a candidate for governor of the Presov self-governing region, but he did not rule out that SNS could field its own candidate there as well. Karas and Michelko concurred that the European Union isn't currently capable of resolving the conflict in Ukraine by diplomatic means. Karas said the EU must engage in dialogue on this issue, while Michelko is convinced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin will begin negotiations within the next six months. jrg