In Short: Slovakia’s President has refused to endorse a climate change denier as the country’s environment minister. This decision highlights the importance of aligning government officials with the scientific consensus on climate change. It underscores the global effort to appoint leaders who prioritize climate action and work towards sustainable policies to address the growing environmental challenges.
In Detail : A climate change denier will not be Slovakia’s next environment minister, the country’s president, Zuzana Čaputová, said Thursday.
Rudolf Huliak — who was elected on the ballot of the populist Slovenská národná strana (Slovak National Party) but is not a member of the party — had been put forward for the environment job in Robert Fico’s government. Huliak has long been a climate change denier and has shared inflammatory messages about climate activists, NGOs, and the LGBTQ+ community on social media.
“A candidate who for a long time does not recognize the scientific consensus on climate change and, according to him, [believes] no real climate crisis exists, cannot lead and represent a department whose main task, according to the law, is the protection of nature and the Earth’s climate system,” Čaputová wrote in a statement, shared with POLITICO. She asked Fico to nominate a new candidate.
The SNS party, however, said it will not change the nomination and warned the president not to exceed her powers, a party spokesperson told Slovakia’s TASR news agency.
Čaputová’s refusal to approve Huliak could have consequences for Fico, who wants to get his government approved and represent Slovakia at a European summit next week in Brussels.
Fico, who handed in a list of names of ministers on Tuesday, has previously accused the president of “delaying the appointment of the new government.”
Fico’s leftist-populist and pro-Russia Smer (Direction) party won the recent Slovak election, announcing that it would form a coalition with the Hlas (Voice) party and SNS. Following that announcement, the Party of European Socialists suspended Smer and Hlas.