Slovak PM seeks last-minute deal to keep government together

Slovakia's finance minister could resign, meeting the demands of a junior partner in the ruling coalition, if measures proposed by the main ruling party to ease the burden of inflation secure approval, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Wednesday.

Heger was seeking a last-minute deal to save his government, which has been engulfed in a row since early July when the liberal SaS party called for the ouster of Finance Minister Igor Matovic, threatening to quit the coalition if he had not left by the end of August.

"We have come up with a proposal for very concrete measures to help people... which we are putting to SaS in particular," Heger told a news conference.

"We are presenting them because we need a solid coalition, we need them to be approved by the government and parliament.

"And if these measures are approved, Igor Matovic will accept (SaS leader) Richard Sulik's challenge and will leave his position."

SaS leaders did not immediately comment on Heger's proposal to end the coalition fight.

The row comes at a difficult time for Slovakia, which is stepping up support for neighbour Ukraine's defence against Russia's invasion, and dealing with a European energy crisis caused by concerns over Russian gas supplies.

SaS' exit from the coalition would cost the government its majority but was unlikely to lead to a collapse or early elections due to time considerations needed to call a new vote.

Sulik, who is economy minister, has often clashed with Matovic, who is the ruling party OLANO's leader and was prime minister before swapping jobs with Heger to defuse an earlier coalition spat.

In June, Matovic leaned on lawmakers from a far-right opposition party to push through a bill aimed at helping people hit by high energy prices and soaring inflation.