Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has announced that he will return his mandate to oversee Slovakia's Environment Ministry to President Peter Pellegrini on Monday. He proposed that the ministry be led by a nominee of the coalition SNS, saying he no longer wanted to be involved in the dispute between SNS leader Andrej Danko and former Minister Tomáš Taraba.
Fico also pointed to the breakdown of parliamentary groups within the SNS and Hlas-SD parties, which he said he had been forced to address to maintain the government's majority.
Meanwhile, Fico defended his claims from last week that Slovakia's 2003 referendum on joining the European Union was manipulated, questioning the officially reported turnout of over 52 percent. He alleged that campaign restrictions had been violated during the vote and suggested that the referendum would otherwise have failed.
The opposition KDH criticised his remarks, accusing him of undermining a key democratic decision without evidence. Taraba warned against weakening trust in democratic institutions, while opposition leader Igor Matovič (Hnutie Slovensko) described Fico's statements as dangerous and politically motivated.
Source: TASR, STVR
