Modern Slovakia will have its first Hungarian-born prime minister in its 30-year history, Hungarian news portal Mandiner reported.
President of Slovakia Zuzana Caputová appointed Lajos Ódor, vice-president of the National Bank of Slovakia, to form a technocrat government after the resignation of Democrat party Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who has been ruling in a caretaker capacity since he lost a vote of confidence last December.
The government will include both liberal and conservative experts
“The government of experts will follow the ideological structure of society and will include both liberal and conservative experts. The new government will be able to hand over its mandate to the new government in the week starting May 15,” Hungarian-language Slovak news portal ma7.sk quoted the president as saying.
“I will first inform the presidents of the political parties about the names, then the public,” said Caputová. She stressed that almost half a year is left before the early parliamentary elections, adding that this was long enough for the official government to stabilize the situation, the portal wrote.
Lajos Ódor was born on July 2, 1976, in Komárom (Komarno) in Hungary. He has been one of Slovakia’s most respected economists for many years and has held a number of advisory and professional positions. He is co-founder of the Institute for Financial Policy, the Council for Fiscal Responsibility and the Monetary Value Department of the Slovak Ministry of Finance.
Ódor has been actively involved in several important economic and policy decisions in Slovakia in the monetary and fiscal fields. He has co-authored several reform policies, including the country’s euro introduction strategy, changes in the tax and pension system, and changes to the country’s constitutional law on fiscal responsibility.
In addition to his academic work, Ódor has authored a number of popular educational books, the latest of which was published in Slovak last year, “A Quick Guide to Genius.” As announced on May 7, 2023, he will be prime minister of the incumbent government that will lead Slovakia until the early elections.
