Voice: Up to Coalition Partners to Agree on Nomination of Environment Minister

Dubove, 21 October (TASR) - The coalition Voice-SD party respects the decision of President Peter Pellegrini regarding the nomination of Filip Kuffa for the post of environment minister, stated Voice-SD leader Matus Sutaj Estok in response to a journalist's question following the government's away-from-home session in Dubove (Zilina region) on Wednesday, adding that it's now up to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko to reach an agreement on the nomination of the head of the Environment Ministry. "The premier is bound by the coalition agreement and, in accordance with that agreement, will have to discuss this nomination with SNS leader Andrej Danko. It's up to our coalition partner to decide," said Sutaj Estok. The leader of the coalition party also believes that SNS has enough high-calibre experts whom it could nominate. He declined to answer when asked whether Fico could lead the Environment Ministry until the general election. Former head of the Environment Ministry and MP Tomas Taraba (Independent) considers the president's decision to be logical. "I'm astonished that this gentleman could even have been nominated as a minister, and I'm even more astonished that he was granted full authority to carry out a purge within the ministry," stated Taraba. He believes that, following the head of state's remarks, Kuffa can't remain as state secretary at the Environment Ministry, either. In his view, the government should dismiss Kuffa and also strip him of the powers that he holds within the ministry. "For the sake of integrity, he shouldn't even take up his seat in Parliament and hide behind his mandate as an MP," he remarked. The president has asked the premier to reconsider the nomination of Filip Kuffa as Environment Minister. Pellegrini also asked Fico to put forward a new candidate. In addition, the head of state said that until he receives a further proposal for appointing a member of the government, the Environment Ministry will continue to be led by the premier. The premier responded by saying that he took note of the procedure followed by the president. Fico pointed out that the prime minister is bound by the coalition agreement, under which he is obliged to submit to the head of state a proposal for appointing the environment minister provided by his coalition partner Danko. Fico also announced that he'll meet Danko within the next few days. Kuffa is the Slovak National Party's (SNS) nominee for the post of Environment Minister following an escalating dispute between the then minister, Tomas Taraba, and SNS. Taraba was dismissed from his post by the president on 30 September after Parliament had passed a vote of no-confidence in Taraba on the previous day. The head of state temporarily entrusted the prime minister with running the Environment Ministry. am/df