The Slovak nationalist party SNS has nominated a new candidate to become environment minister, party officials said on Tuesday, as it seeks to unblock the path to forming a government with election winner Robert Fico's SMER-SSD party.

Three-times former prime minister Fico campaigned heavily on pledges to end military aid to Ukraine, make foreign policy independent of European Union (EU) partners and the United States, and get tough on protecting borders from an elevated flow of migrants seeking to make it to western Europe.

Fico, whose leftist party won a Sept. 30 election, is forming a government with SNS and the centre-left HLAS, aiming to be in office in time for an Oct. 26-27 European Union Summit where issues like Ukraine and migration will be on the agenda.

President Zuzana Caputova had rejected SNS's original nomination, Rudolf Huliak, citing his denial of climate change and verbal attacks on environmental campaigners, holding up the new cabinet's appointment.

The new nominee is Tomas Taraba, a far-right politician who won a parliamentary seat in the Sept. 30 election on the SNS ticket.

"I will do everything for there being a stable government in these four upcoming years," SNS chief Andrej Danko told a televised news conference. "I believe that Robert Fico can happily go to Brussels on Thursday."

Slovakia's new parliament is due to meet for the first time on Wednesday. REUTERS