Slovak News Back to the news
Parliament Approves Reduction of Ministries in Fast-tracked Proceedings
Wednesday 20 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, January 20 (TASR) - The number of government ministries in Slovakia will be reduced by two, as of July 1, 2010, as Parliament decided after a heated debate on Wednesday.
This is according to an amendment to the law on the operational activities of the government and central state administration which was fast-tracked, and finally approved by 78 out of 150 MPs.
According to the law, the Construction and Regional Development Ministry should be joined to the Economy Ministry, with the exception of the community works agenda, which should be transferred to the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry. Responsibility for drawing EU Funds would pass from the Construction Ministry into the hands of the Government Office. The State Fund for Housing Development would be transferred under the united Economy, Construction and Regional Development Ministry.
The current Education Ministry should be renamed the Education, Science, Research and Sports Ministry. The tourism agenda would become part of the Culture Ministry's responsibilities, with the setting-up of a Culture and Tourism Ministry.
According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, these steps should provide savings reaching up to €13.28 million a year.
The Government's initiative in Parliament ran up against resistance from the Opposition. Christian Democrat (KDH) caucus leader Pavol Hrusovsky proposed that the debate shouldn't continue at all, adding that he doesn't see any reason for fast-tracked proceedings either, as the amendment should only be valid as of July 1. "I regret how the authority of Parliament is being lowered by such unwise and illogical proposals that are submitted by the Government to Parliament for debate without respecting legal requirements," said Hrusovsky during the debate, stressing that he views the move as populist and irresponsible.
Jarmila Tkacova (SDKU-DS) expressed her opposition to scrapping the Environment Ministry in particular. "I view uniting it with the Agriculture Ministry as its actual liquidation. Moreover, it isn't a standard procedure when an outgoing Government prepares laws for the future one," she said, pointing out that the agriculture sector - one of the main polluters - is set to gain responsible for the environmental agenda when the amendment passes.
Marian Zahumensky (Smer-SD) said in reaction that preparing a law for the new government is the best solution, because it will be prepared based on reduced state administration. He thinks that this step will save a considerable amount of time. "If such a change were made during a term of office it would bring chaos," he said.
According to Independent MP (former LS-HZDS) and former agriculture minister Zdenka Kramplova, merging these two ministries would be a very effective solution. "I'm sure that agriculture and the environment are closely linked," she argued.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
