BRATISLAVA, January 18, (WEBNOVINY) — It is highly probable that the appointment of the new head of the government’s privatization agency FNM will be made by the new government that will be formed after the early elections in March. “The president is convinced that FNM Executive Committee does not need a new head two months before elections, moreover at a time when privatization has been halted and when, also in accordance with the statute, the Executive Committee can properly perform its activities even without a chairperson as the current chairwoman can authorize her deputy,” spokesman for the president Marek Trubac told SITA.
“In the name of the FNM Executive Committee, its chairman signs documents and during his absence a member of the committee authorized by the chairman. Signatures of two members of the Executive Committee is necessary to ensure validity of written legal acts. The statute will determine when and at what scope members of the Executive Committee act and give authorization to act on behalf of FNM. The president opines that the operation of FNM is safeguarded even if the chairman of the Executive Committee is not appointed,” presidential spokesman Marek Trubac explained on Wednesday afternoon. The president did not contest the names of candidates he received from the Cabinet earlier in the day, underscored Trubac. He said that three alternatives were featured in the draft resolution while the first alternative that is preferably accepted did not feature any name of a candidate.
The proposal of Economy Minister Juraj Miskov (SaS) comprised three alternatives suggesting that the FNM could be led by someone from the current members at the Executive Committee. Miskov eventually listed KDH nominee Pavol Faktor and alternatively Dionyz Stehlik (SaS) in the proposal and left the third box empty if the Cabinet agreed on another nominee. SDKU-DS nominee Jozef Petrasko did not feature in Miskov’s proposal in the end although he was minister’s first choice at first. He initially accepted the nomination but later declined the offer after consultations. Miskov is ready to talk with the president about a particular name for a candidate.
The dismissed head of the National Property Fund, Anna Bubenikova, remains at FNM. The head of the office of the FNM Executive Committee, Miloslav Homola, informed that Bubenikova came to the FNM head office on Wednesday, where she wanted to hand over the post to her successor including the related agenda. “She presented her proposal to the present members of the Committee to hand over the post, but given the fact that a new chairman of the FNM Executive Committee has not been appointed to date, it was not possible to fulfill the task,” Homola further said. In industrial and legal relations of FNM employees, Homola continued, always two members of the Executive Committee act on behalf of FNM simultaneously, while one of them must be the head of the Committee and this is why it was impossible to terminate Bubenikova’s FNM employment.
The Cabinet dismissed Bubenikova last week over suspicions resulting from the alleged intelligence service SIS file code-named Gorilla, which documents influence on Slovak politics by the Penta financial group. Ministries for SaS, KDH and MOST-HID voted for Bubenikova’s dismissal, while the SDKU-DS but Prime Minister Iveta Radicova were against.
SITA