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Slovakia: Slovakia heads for minority cabinet as ruling coalition falls apart

Slovakia’s ruling coalition moved closer to collapse after a junior member threatened to pull its ministers from the cabinet, depriving it of majority support in parliament, Bloomberg reports.

The ruling alliance has repeatedly flirted with a break since it won the 2020 parliamentary elections on a promise to stamp out rampant corruption. Last year, the Freedom and Solidarity party, led by Richard Sulik, orchestrated the ouster of then-prime minister Igor Matovic after a disagreement over the handling of the pandemic.

While the reshuffled cabinet, now led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger, has faltered since then, Sulik is now demanding that Matovic be removed as finance minister by August 31 or his party will leave the coalition.

“It is time to dismiss the finance minister because the management of this ministry is disastrous,” Sulik said after the coalition talks on Saturday. “We are ready to continue in this government only when our demand is met.”

Sulik accuses Matovic of betraying his government partners by pushing a multibillion-euro ($1.003 billion) subsidy package for families through parliament without sufficient support and with the help of far-right lawmakers. Matovic, the leader of the largest ruling party, refuses to step down.

Early elections;

A split would throw Heger’s government into minority status and force him to seek ad hoc support in parliament to pass laws. His government will have to deal with the energy crisis in the coming months, approve the 2023 budget and pass other legislation needed to get the nation of 5.4 million people hundreds of millions of euros from the European Union’s recovery fund.

A collapse of the coalition would also expose the government to no-confidence motions led by two opposition groups now leading in the polls and could trigger an early election.

Former Prime Minister Robert Fico has launched a campaign for a referendum to oust the government, which President Zuzana Kaputova is considering.

Another round of talks is scheduled for Aug. 26, but with neither side showing signs of compromise and only 11 days until Sulik’s ultimatum, the stakes are rising.

Source: Capital

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