Slovak PM prepared to step down to resolve coalition crisis but sets conditions

Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Sunday he was prepared to step down to resolve a crisis in his four-party coalition, if his coalition partners agreed to conditions including a Cabinet seat for himself.

The year-old coalition has been hit by disputes over Matovic’s management style, which boiled over earlier this month when he ordered politically sensitive shipments of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine without his partners’ knowledge.

“If coalition partners meet the commitments that they have publicly declared, and that is what our demands are based on, I am willing to step down as the chairman of the Cabinet and work as one of its members,” Matovic said in a statement to the press shown live on social media.

Matovic, a former anti-corruption activist and founder of the OLANO party, demanded that the leader of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and Economy Minister Richard Sulik leave the Cabinet.

Matovic’s proposals also included the departure of a minister from another party and one less Cabinet seat for SaS.

Sulik, who has clashed with Matovic, earlier called his rule “chaotic” and said he was willing to go if Matovic went too.