PM to ask Foreign Minister Lajčák to stay

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini will attempt to persuade Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák to reconsider his decision to resign, during their Monday meeting, wrote the TASR press agency. Pellegrini said he could not imagine who else could wield the sceptre of Slovakia's OSCE Presidency next year or start addressing the situation between Russia and Ukraine. According to several politicians, including junior governing Most-Híd party chair Béla Bugár, Lajčák's resignation calls Slovakia's foreign orientation into question. However, according to Pellegrini, Slovakia will never digress from the EU or NATO membership. Lajčák announced his resignation last Thursday, following Parliament's refusal of the UN Compact for Migration. Lajčák also disliked the fact that some coalition members suggested that Slovakia should not send its representative to Marrakech, where the compact is to be adopted.