UPDATE 2-Slovak PM turns up heat on coalition partner

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By Martin Dokoupil

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told his farm minister on Thursday to quit or be sacked after corruption accusations, a step that could break up the ruling coalition.

Fico told the minister, Miroslav Jurena of the centre-left Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), to take political responsibility for disputed land transfers that have rocked relations in the often fractious three-party government.

A dissolution of the coalition would strip the cabinet, led by Fico's leftist Smer party, of its parliamentary majority and could lead to its collapse at a crucial time in the European Union member's quest to join the euro currency zone in 2009.

"If Farm Minister Miroslav Jurena does not take this step himself, the prime minister will ask the president on Friday ... for his dismissal," Fico's spokeswoman Silvia Glendova said in a statement.

"The prime minister is fully aware of the consequences that his request and the proposed actions can have on the operations and existence of the current government coalition, but must react to the inactivity and inability of the HZDS to take a fundamental position on this land scandal."

Jurena says he did nothing wrong and the HZDS backs him.

The Farm Ministry said Jurena would issue a statement later on Thursday, and the HZDS called a leadership meeting.

"We will make a political decision at 6 pm (1700 GMT) unless the minister himself decides before. But we cannot speak for him," HZDS deputy chairman Milan Urbani told Reuters.

A HZDS appointee at the state land administration agency, supervised by Jurena, approved deals returning land confiscated by the communists during their totalitarian rule which ended in 1989.

But local media reported the land ended up in possession of a company close to HZDS for a fraction of its market value.

Fico formed the coalition with the HZDS and the Slovak National Party after a parliamentary election in June 2006.

The coalition has often been fractious, but the latest row is the harshest so far. The next election is due in 2010.

A government collapse would not directly lead to an early election. Political parties may try to form a new administration before polls are called.

Surveys show Smer is the most popular party with more than 40 percent support, so an early election may not harm Fico.

But Fico plans to step up diplomatic efforts to win backing for Slovakia to adopt the euro single currency in 2009, and a protracted government crisis could harm economic discipline needed for euro zone membership.

The Slovak crown currency showed no reaction to the news, hovering near Wednesday's one-month low of 33.500 per euro .

(Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary)

Keywords: SLOVAKIA COALITION/

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]