Slovakia: Economy minister resigns

(dpa) In Slovakia, the government crisis that has been smoldering for weeks has escalated. The leader of the liberal Freedom and Solidarity Party (SaS), Richard Sulik, handed in his resignation as economy minister on Wednesday and threatened the resignation of his party’s other ministers. The 54-year-old again called for the resignation of finance minister Igor Matovic from the largest governing party, Olano. If this does not happen by Monday, the remaining SaS ministers would leave the cabinet. Prime Minister Eduard Heger only has a few days to find a solution to the coalition dispute.

Personal differences between Sulik and Matovic have been apparent for months. Tensions escalated dramatically when the finance minister pushed a relief package for families with children through parliament against the will of the coalition partner – with the votes of right-wing extremists.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova called an emergency meeting with Heger and Parliament Speaker Boris Kollar. Slovakia has been a member of the EU and NATO since 2004. The country with around 5.5 million inhabitants borders on the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine and Poland.

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