Opposition criticising Finance Minister becoming Central Bank governor

After 12 years in politics, the majority of which was spent at Finance Ministry's top posts, my mission is at its end, Finance Minister Peter Kažimír declared on the public broadcasters RTVS's political discussion programme on Sunday. Already elected by the Parliament to become the Slovak Central Bank's next governor, Kažimír is still waiting to be appointed by the President. He considers his retreat from politics a sound guarantee of future independent behaviour in his new role as the governor. On the contrary, doubts regarding the independence of the Slovak Central Bank under Kažimír's leadership were voiced by opposition Ordinary People (OĽaNO) MP Eduard Heger, also on the show. Heger pointed out that today Kažimír is approving his own budget and a year down the road, he will have to evaluate it from the bank's perspective, thus assess his own work as well as of his colleagues. According to the Opposition, since the central bank interacts with the European Central Bank on issues of monetary policies, holds vigil over the financial market and makes comments on Government measures, for Kažimír there will be conflict of interests.