Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger will step down months before early elections planned for Sept. 30 after his caretaker cabinet started to fall apart, he said Sunday in Bratislava.
(Bloomberg) — Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger will step down months before early elections planned for Sept. 30 after his caretaker cabinet started to fall apart, he said Sunday in Bratislava.
President Zuzana Caputova announced that she’ll meet Heger at 3 p.m. local time on Sunday. She’s likely to appoint a non-political interim cabinet to govern until the election.
Heger had said earlier he intended to stay in power until the September vote to “ensure stability” for the eastern European Union member state of some 5.4 million people. Still, in a nationally televised speech on Thursday, he admitted that he’s “co-responsible for chaos in the country.”
His government lost a no-confidence vote in December after years of bickering over issues ranging from public spending and financial support for families, to how to handle the pandemic, and Europe’s cost-of-living crisis.
Even so, the administration enjoyed a strong international reputation. It supports EU sanctions against Russia and provided significant military aid to Ukraine, including MiG-29 jets, infantry vehicles, and the S-300 missile system.
Former three-time Prime Minister Robert Fico leads opinion polls four months before the Slovakian vote. He questions support for sanctions against Russia and has said he’ll stop arms deliveries to Ukraine, hinting his return to power could impact future EU’s decisions.
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