Slovak President to dismiss government

Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic announced on Friday following meeting with Prime Minister Iveta Radicova that he will dismisss her coalition government, after it lost a parliamentary confidence vote on Tuesday, Gasparovic said that the Constitution doesn't allow him to do anything else rather than dismiss the government, commissioning somebody with forming a new cabinet, and then appointing that cabinet "I'll convene the chairs of all parliamentary parties to agree on further moves on Monday, to see whether anybody will be able to form a new government that will have majority support in Parliament, or whether they'll come to an agreement on a minority government," Gasparovic said. "Another possible move is for me to appoint a caretaker government," Gasparovic added. Radicova's government fell on Tuesday after it failed to win the first round of parliamentary vote the expansion of the euro rescue fund- European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The vote was linked to a confidence vote in the government. Gasparovic's approach towards resolving the current situation concerning Radicova's cabinet is compatible with the government's decision to hold early elections in March next year, new parliamentary speaker Pavol Hrusovsky (Christian Democrats/KDH) said after meeting Gasparovic at the Presidential Palace. Hrusovsky replaced the anti-EFSF leader of SaS party Richard Sulik as the parliamentary head after the latter was removed in a vote from the post by lawmakers. Sulik's dismissal was proposed by his former coalition partners after his party refused to vote for the enlargement of the EFSF, precipitating the downfall of the government, according to Slovak media. "I'm in favour of a new element of political culture being introduced in society and politics first and foremost. If any of these alternatives is applied, it must be responsible and mustn't threaten Slovakia's interests," Hrusovsky said. The parliamentary speaker refused to prejudge a solution to the current situation, saying that three coalition parties (SDKU, KDH and Most-Hid) must discuss it first. "I don't want to take up a definite stance on the president's opinion," added Hrusovsky.