(Reuters) – Slovakia’s President Zuzana Caputova removed Finance Minister Igor Matovic from his government post on Friday and put Prime Minister Eduard Heger in charge of the ministry, a presidential spokesperson said.
Matovic’s departure is part of a deal under which opposition parties helped the minority government to approve 2023 state budget on Thursday.
The deal prevented Slovakia, a euro zone member, from starting 2023 with a provisional budget that would have limited new spending, a risk it faced amid months of political fighting that resulted in the fall of Heger’s government last week.
Heger’s cabinet is ruling now in a caretaker capacity, so Caputova formally removed Matovic’s assignment as a member of government, because he could not resign or be dismissed.
(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Toby Chopra)
