US embassy cable - 04BRATISLAVA716

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BRATISLAVA 000716 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, ECON, PHUM, LO 
SUBJECT: KDH MUSINGS DURING THE SUMMER LULL 
 
Classified By: DCM Scott N. Thayer for reason 1.4(b). 
 
1. (C) Summary/Introduction: Slovakia's traditional summer 
vacation "cucumber season" allows time for liesurely meetings 
and deep thoughts.  Poloffs recently met with Michal Dyttert, 
spokesperson for Pavol Hrusovsky, who is Chairman of 
Parliament and of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH). 
He openly described the conflict between Interior Minister 
Vladimir Palko's arch-conservativism and Hrusovsky's more 
moderate Catholic-guided politics.  He also discussed KDH's 
internal problems dealing with corrupt members and the divide 
between Bratislava and the other regions.  Following are 
Dyttert's summer musings about Slovakia's political scene and 
KDH's future.  End summary. 
 
Governing Coalition Deals 
------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Alliance for a New Citizen (ANO) seems to have lot of 
internal problems and leader Pavol Rusko does not pay 
attention to the party because as Minister of Economy he is 
busy with the Hyundai/KIA plant and other business issues. 
There was a conflict between MPs Jozef Heriban and Eva Cerna 
with regard to EU elections.  (Note: Cerna confirms this.  MP 
Jozef Banas left ANO due to Heriban,s ambitions as well.) 
It is likely that ANO will merge with PM Mikulas Dzurinda's 
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU), most probably 
before the end of this term. Some ANO MPs may join other 
parties. 
 
3. (C) SDKU has been trying to reach out to independent MPs, 
so far successfully.   Dyttert is quite certain that the 
governing coaltiion will last until the end of its term. 
 
4. (C) The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and KDH are the 
only stable parties with values in Slovakia.  SMK raises 
issues that are rather sensitive for other politicians, who 
are wary of Hungarian aspirations for autonomy or territory. 
As long as SMK is able to keep these issues under control, 
and the SMK and KDH manage not to irritate each other, 
cooperation with SMK would be possible in a future 
government.  He commented on Deputy PM for EU Integration and 
Minorities Pal Csaky, who has not been doing anything lately. 
 He does not have allies within the SMK presidium, but has 
popular backing in the regions.  However, SMK party leader 
Bela Bugar is a reasonable and popular politician. 
 
KDH and its future policy 
------------------------- 
 
5. (C) KDH also has internal tensions.  Hrusovsky,s 
leadership position is secure and he will be reelected for 
another term next year.  Dyttert does not think that Palko is 
a serious threat to Hrusovsky, because he is too radical and 
does not have enough support in the regions.  Palko often 
makes radical statements, but he does not consult them with 
the KDH board or leadership and he is like a &disconnected 
railroad car8 that slips out of control. 
 
6. (C) There is a "Bratislava KDH Group."  Palko has strong 
connections with Bratislava KDH reps like Durkovsky (Lord 
Mayor of Bratislava), Ciernik (Old Town Bratislava Mayor) and 
Bielik (Mayor of Bratislava's Raca neighborhood).  Charges of 
fraud against Bielik (who is also party chief for the 
Bratislava region) caused KDH negative press recently.  In 
Dyttert,s view the charges bear some truth, but Bielik is 
long-time friend of older KDH officials and they expressed 
support for him.  Dyttert advised Hrusovsky to ask Bielik to 
resign until the charges against him are proved false, but 
that didn't happen. 
 
7. (C) Dyttert predicted that in 2010 there will be a 
generation change in KDH, but at the moment the top officials 
are still relatively young (Palko 47, Hrusovsky 51, Minarik 
47) and will stay in politics. Hrusovsky has no major health 
problems.  He is a sportsman, and although he had 
difficulties with his blood pressure, otherwise he is fine. 
He is an avid runner and goes 10-15 km distances. 
 
8. (C) Dyttert also mentioned Hrusovsky,s speech at the NATO 
Parliamentary Assembly and said that politicians were 
surprised (including SMK and other coalition members), 
because they were not used to this new terminology (good vs. 
evil, comparing war on terrorism to Cold War) in Slovakia. 
 
Inter-religious Dialogue Not a Priority 
--------------------------------------- 
 
9. (C) KDH is not supportive of a dialogue with Muslims or 
their request to build a mosque.  If they come up with 15 
thousand signatures (as the law requires to register a 
church) and ask for state support, KDH will have to accept 
them; but at the moment, they do not see why Muslims should 
have their mosque if they don,t qualify under the law. 
Theoretically they could build a mosque even without being 
 
registered, but in practice, they will not get approval from 
local authorities in Bratislava (now represented by KDH 
officials), nor all the necessary building permits.  The 
Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) is already following some 
Muslim activities (even without a central gathering place); 
this was proven by cooperation leading to the arrest in 
Britain of terrorists who had been staying in Piestany. 
 
Opposition tensions 
------------------- 
 
10. (C) The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) 
disagrees on how to proceed. One part of Meciar,s party 
wants to cooperate with SMER (Veteska, Maxon, Cagala, 
Sobona), but the other group (Urbani, Meciar, Pinkava, Rehak) 
is more interested in working with SDKU, especially because 
some of them are under criminal investigation (Pinkava, 
Rehak) for corruption.  Meciar was recently plotting a "coup 
d'etat" in parliament.  He tried to get support from SMER, 
Free Forum and the Communist Party (KSS) to overthrow the 
current leadership of parliament.  However, he has not been 
able to gain backing for such action even from within his own 
ranks.  Meciar will not work with Fico, but he is cooperating 
more often with Dzurinda.  This was obvious during the past 
parliamentary session, when they consulted on some items of 
the agenda.  Party whip Veteska is often very critical of 
Meciar and they had arguments on various issues, however, 
Meciar is not ready to give up his position. 
 
11. (C) President Gasparovic will also play a role with 
regard to future developments in HZDS.  He has good contacts 
with some members from his days as HZDS vice-chair, and will 
try to plot against Meciar.  Gasparovic will also have to 
pacify his supporters from the Slovak Nationalist Party 
(SNS), who are asking for rewards such as government 
positions.  Dyttert said Cic was a bad choice for 
chief-of-staff due to his communist past. 
 
12. (C) Robert Fico's party Smer ("Direction") has internal 
problems. This became evident when publicist Fedor Flasik 
backed land owners in Zilina who refused to sell their land 
to the state at the assessed price (for the Hyundai/Kia 
plant).  Fico distanced himself from Flasik and his 
activities. It seems Flasik has been gathering money from 
various companies under the pretext that it will be used for 
Smer, but according to Dyttert, he used some funds for 
private purposes.  Fico is concerned that Flasik's fuzzy 
business deals could affect Smer,s reputation.  The party 
still does not have well-built regional structures, Fico is 
dominating the party, and he is quite jealous of MPs Robert 
Kalinak and Monica Benova, who have media appeal. 
Competition also exists between the western and eastern wings 
of Smer; easterners (Paska, Bucek) want to promote their 
people within party structures, but westerners seem to have 
better leverage.  If Smer doesn't get into the next 
government, it will disintegrate. 
 
13. (C) SNS has a chance to get into parliament in the next 
elections if the two branches unite.  Zilina Mayor and SNS 
leader Jan Slota is a very dangerous man; he is very well 
connected, including links abroad to various "strange 
circles."  He is an "emperor" in Zilina and has absolute 
power.  He is not really interested in national politics, and 
his main goal could be to get the party into parliament to 
get cover for other activities.  Therefore, he allied with 
Ana Malikova and will give her free rein.  The other wing of 
SNS represented by Sulovsky has no power, no money, and few 
supporters. 
 
SIS a Partisan institution 
-------------------------- 
 
14. (C) Dyttert said KDH believes SIS director Pittner is not 
very objective.  SIS delivers reports to Hrusovsky in a 
random, rather than systematic, manner.  When Hrusovsky is 
critical of this method and asks about material concerning 
MPs, Pittner always says that if he gets requests, he is 
ready to supply them.  However, asking for reports when you 
don't know what is available is like playing, "Go Fish." In 
Dyttert's view, Pittner serves Dzurinda's interests and is 
not very objective.  He thinks that the current corruption 
charges against the Agricultural Ministry (headed by SMK) 
were made public by SIS with the intent to damage SMK. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
15. (C) Dyttert represents the "next generation" of KDH 
leaders, as KDH is one of the few Slovak political parties to 
actively cultivate young members.  His sister Laura 
Dyttertova is the official KDH spokesperson.  Speculating on 
politics is a national past-time in Slovakia, and not 
everything Dyttert says can be taken as gospel truth.  On the 
other hand, his position at Hrusovsky's side in Parliament 
and in the party, combined with his frankness, offer good 
 
insight into the state of play on the political scene. 
Dyttert and his wife have a two-year old son, and a two-month 
old son. 
 
 
WEISER 
 
 
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