UPDATE 3-Slovak PM sacks minister, coalition tension high

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By Peter Laca

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico asked the country's president on Friday to dismiss his farm minister over a scandal involving land deals, deepening a row that may break up the three-party ruling coalition.

The junior ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), of which Farm Minister Miroslav Jurena is a member, said it would decide on Saturday whether to leave the three-party coalition and warned it was unlikely to survive its full term.

A break-up of the centre-left coalition would strip Fico of a parliamentary majority, threatening his cabinet at a crucial time in his drive to bring the central European EU member into the euro currency zone in 2009.

Fico asked President Ivan Gasparovic to remove the farm minister after Jurena ignored a demand that he resign. Fico said he wanted to keep the coalition together -- its mandate officially ends in 2010 -- but not at any cost.

"It is very bad if the HZDS... is considering breaking a good welfare-oriented coalition only because of scandalous land transfers," Fico told reporters after meeting Gasparovic. "I care very much about this coalition, but not at any cost."

HZDS head Vladimir Meciar lashed back, saying the current make-up of the coalition was unsustainable.

"I do not think any more that this coalition is the only right (thing)," Meciar told news television TA3 in his first remarks on the row on Friday.

"Nor do I think that it is for the entire four years."

A HZDS departure could bring down the government if the party teamed up with the opposition in a no-confidence vote, but that would not automatically lead to an early election, as parties can try to form a new cabinet in such a situation.

FICO SEEN AS WINNER

The coalition dispute centres on a land administration agency, supervised by Jurena, which approved deals to return land confiscated during the communist era that ended in 1989.

Local media reported a company close to the HZDS acquired the land for a fraction of its market value. Jurena has denied any wrongdoing.

Most analysts expect Fico's cabinet to survive the dispute, either with the HZDS, or in a minority with tacit support from rebel deputies in parliament.

"Fico can enjoy the feeling of the winner in the fight for public opinion," said Dag Danis, a daily Pravda columnist.

"And he may not lose the fight for keeping the government afloat. The HZDS's deputy caucus is split, and Meciar has no real plan B."

The coalition row erupted just days before parliament was to start debating the 2008 state budget. Its approval would need the consent of all ruling parties.

HZDS General Secretary Zdenka Kramplova has said the party will support the budget regardless of the row. Meciar did not say how the HZDS will behave in parliamentary votes.

The crown currency fell to a 5-week low on Friday of 33.750 to the euro but later recovered to Thursday's closing level of 33.55. Traders said investors were watching political developments but the reason for the drop was negative sentiment toward all currencies in central Europe. (Editing by Alan Crosby and Michael Winfrey)

Keywords: SLOVAKIA COALITION/

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]