Slovak President appoints leftist Fico as prime minister

Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic appointed centre-left leader Robert Fico as prime minister on Wednesday after his Smer party won a landslide victory in an early election last month.

The 47-year-old lawyer, who concluded Slovakia's accession to the euro zone during his previous term as prime minister in 2006-2010, replaces Iveta Radicova, whose centre-right government collapsed in October last year.

Fico has said he would honor pledges to cut the fiscal gap below the EU's official limit of 3 percent next year, flagging higher taxes for wealthy Slovaks and companies.

(Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Reuters