Dzurinda's First Cabinet

Between 30 October 1998 and 15 October 2002, prime minister of Slovakia Mikuláš Dzurinda formed his first term in this office. It was the first supermajority government to be formed in Slovakia after the first Pyrrhic Electoral Victory for Vladimír Mečiar and his HZDS. This government allowed them to adopt of a constitution or a constitutional statute such as constitutional amendment for direct elections instead of indirect elections in 1999.

Government ministers

Deputy Prime Ministers

Issues

Robert Fico and Formation of SMER-SD

In the 1998 elections that saw the fall of the government of Vladimír Mečiar, Fico received the biggest number of preferential votes among his party colleagues. A year later, when support for the SDĽ dropped below the threshold required to get into parliament, he left the party, saying he was disappointed with the way the government worked. As early as in the autumn of 1998, a four-person group consisting of Fico, his associate Frantisek Határ, political strategist Fedor Flašík, and media executive Monika Flašíková-Beňová had begun to discuss and lay plans for launching a new political party. These plans were driven by the falling popularity of the existing parties, and the rising popularity of Fico.

Almost immediately after leaving SDĽ, the group founded Direction (SMER), which Fico first labelled a party of the third way, with himself as leader. Fico established himself as an opposition politician criticizing the unpopular reforms of the right-wing government of Mikuláš Dzurinda. In order to keep SMER from repeating the fate of his previous party, Fico introduced a strict set of regulations for his new party, called the "clean hands" policy. The rules stipulated that no one with ties from the previous Communist regime or people who had background with other political parties was allowed to hold party office. This created a new generation of politicians uninvolved in previous corruption scandals; among them was Monika Flašíková-Beňová, Robert Kaliňák, and Pavol Paška. Another rule was that all party chapters on the regional and local levels were to be 100% financially self-sufficient, and all financial donations were to be made public to the media.

Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant and Bombing of Yugoslavia

On 14 September 1999, the government decided to gradually shut down the two units of the V1 nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice with an installed capacity of 880 MW before the end of their technical service life. It committed to closing the first unit by 31 December 2006 at the latest and the second unit by 31 December 2008. The shutdown of the units was one of the conditions for Slovakia's invitation to join the European Union. Although Slovakia was not a member of NATO in 1999, its agreement to use NATO airspace enabled the bombing of Yugoslavia.

Accident in Yugoslavia

A state Slovak delegation to Yugoslavia, which included Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda and three senior cabinet members, have returned to Bratislava after an August 31 road accident involving their motorcade that left three dead and 11 injured. According to initial police reports, the crash was caused when a Serb motorist attempted a dangerous overtaking maneuver and hit three cars in the oncoming convoy.

References

{{Cabinets of Slovakia

Government of Slovakia
Slovak government cabinets
Cabinets established in 1998
Cabinets disestablished in 2002
Robert Fico