On Wednesday President Andrej Kiska received the resignation of the outgoing party Smer government. At the same time he appointed Smer head and outgoing Prime Minister Robert Fico to lead the new government. Moreover, the President approved the individual representatives of the new government.
After the appointment President Andrej Kiska stressed the challenges the new government will have to face. "The results of the general elections clearly express the voters' moods. Therefore, you are the government that has to reach significant goals in multiple fields. We significantly need to increase peoples' trust in the state," said Kiska. Most of the Smer-SD ministers will stays in their posts. Robert Fico remains Prime Minister, Miroslav Lajčák the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, and Robert Kaliňák has started his third term as the Interior Minister while Peter Kažimír will serve as Finance Minister for the second time. Among the Ministers of the other 3 parties, there are only novices except for the Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská. Even prior to their appointments the news site aktuality.sk pointed to past scandals of the new Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matečná and Education Minister Peter Plavčan, both from the Slovak National Party. However, their leader Andrej Danko claims he fully trusts his candidates. "Try to give them at least 100 days," he asked the media.
The opposition is questioning appointments at some of the most visible and troubled ministries. The appointment of Tomáš Drucker as Health Minister came as a big surprise, as until now he has led the Slovak Post. "Experience in health care should be vital for a candidate for this most difficult ministry. And he has none," said Marian Kollár, the president of the Slovak Doctors' Chamber. Drucker led several projects of merging state and private health insurers and even participated in the making of the new health-care reform. Expectations are also high for the new education minister Peter Plavčan. "I want to bring what our school system needs - serenity and stability," he said. However, independent MP Miroslav Beblavý thinks Plavčan is not a good choice. "Our school system needs a strong leader with respect among politicians. We have an all life clerk who is able to get along with anyone, instead."
