Peter Pellegrini, Chair of the Hlas-SD party, publicly voiced his support for President Zuzana Čaputová’s proposal to appoint a caretaker government to take over Prime Minister Eduard Heger’s cabinet in case it fails to implement key measures such as those related to the recovery plan.

Čaputová made the promise noting, however, that this is not the preferred course of action for her, or the country, citing the lack of support in the National Council and lack of time to implement reforms before the September elections.

Pellegrini, who is often critical of Čaputová, publicly voiced his support of a caretaker government on Tuesday afternoon.

The caretaker government’s “mandate should be, at most, to save the recovery plan and pass laws to save the people and the economy if necessary. That’s all this government should do,” Pellegrini said.

“The president is ready to appoint a caretaker government only if Prime Minister Eduard Heger’s government fundamentally fails in some of the key areas of the country’s functioning. The reason for a caretaker government could also be the withdrawal of assignments from other current government ministers. So far, there are no reasons for such a situation,” President’s spokesman Martin Strižinec said.

Heger recently fired his now-former Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský for failing to implement the reform envisaged by the recovery plan. The Health Ministry subsequently passed directly under Heger, also responsible for the Finance Ministry.

Rumours circulating in Bratislava suggested Čaputová may have already decided to appoint her government led by economist and National Bank government Ľudovít Ódor after Easter, but this has not happened by the time of publication.

(Michal Hudec | EURACTIV.sk)