Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic has agreed to resign under certain conditions amid a government crisis over the procurement of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. By offering his resignation, Matovic hopes to end the disagreement within his cabinet over the purchase of some 2 million doses of the Russian vaccine. Two weeks ago, the Minister of Health resigned for the same reason.
Matovic is willing to give up his premiership and remain on his own as a minister in the future. Matovic previously ordered the purchase of millions of doses but did not consult his coalition colleagues. The drug has not yet been approved in the EU; the coalition partners had wanted to await that EMA approval. One of the smaller coalition parties, Za Ludi, previously threatened to leave the government over the issue. Slovakia has a right-wing four-party coalition.
Slovakia has been badly affected by the corona virus. In the country, which has about 5.5 million inhabitants, 9,000 people have succumbed to Covid-19. At the beginning of this month, about four thousand corona patients were in the hospital.
–
:strip_icc():format(jpeg)/kly-media-production/medias/1636416/original/047217900_1498815445-armageddon-2104385_960_720__Pixabay.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
