US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA17

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, ECON, PHUM, LO, IZ 
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP JANUARY 07, 2005 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
New NATO Training Mission Iraq Proposal 
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1. (SBU) Lubomir Cano, Director of the Security Policy 
Department at the MFA, said the MOD and MFA have agreed upon 
a proposal to send five Slovak soldiers to the NATO Training 
Mission - Iraq (NTM-I).  The original parliamentary mandate 
allows up to 110 non-combat personnel to be deployed under 
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).  However, due to a lack of 
qualified personnel in specific roles in the Slovak Armed 
Forces, the Slovak contribution to OIF is currently at 105 
soldiers, and this proposal would raise the Slovak 
commitment to the maximum level.  The NTM-I proposal 
requires cabinet and parliamentary approval (currently 
scheduled for January 12), since the original Slovak mandate 
specifically allows soldiers to be deployed only as a part 
of OIF. 
 
2. (SBU) Cano said the MFA-MOD consensus did not consider 
more than five additional soldiers even though a new 
parliamentary mandate would be required in any case.  In a 
Radio Slovakia New Years address, PM Mikulas Dzurinda said 
he still supports the decision to send Slovak troops to 
Iraq.  He reaffirmed the need for Slovakia to contribute to 
European and global security but did not mention a possible 
NTM-I contribution. 
 
Secret Police Archives Prompt Resignation 
 
SIPDIS 
----------------------------------------- 
4. (U) State Secretary of the Ministry of Construction and 
SDKU MP Jan Hurny resigned due to allegations of cooperation 
with the Communist-era secret police (StB).  The Institute 
of the Memory of the Nation published the secret police 
files of all former agents six weeks ago.  (NOTE: "Agent" 
was the highest-level collaborator with the secret police.) 
Hurny's file include his signature, which he claims is 
forged.  Hurny's denial received much media criticism, and 
he is the first senior Slovak state official to resign due 
to alleged StB collaboration.  SDKU chairman and PM Mikulas 
Dzurinda accepted Hurny's resignation, and coalition 
partners welcomed it.  KDH chairman and Speaker of 
Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky said Hurny's case should become a 
precedent, and SMK leader Bela Bugar said Hurny made a good 
decision as he exposed his party to criticism.  ANO's 
Lubomir Lintner said Hurny should have stepped down sooner. 
 
5. (SBU) Shortly before the files became public, SDKU MP 
Jozef Banas admitted he was a StB agent.  He says that his 
StB file clearly shows that he never hurt anyone, and he 
does not intend to resign.  Banas, who was recently elected 
vice president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, said he 
does not consider the files a trustworthy source of 
information.  (COMMENT: Banas largely avoided the media 
controversy that Hurny attracted by admitting and explaining 
his former collaboration with the secret police before the 
files became public knowledge.) 
 
Slovakia Takes Lead of CEI 
-------------------------- 
6. (U) Slovakia has assumed the 2005 chairmanship of the 
Central European Initiative (CEI).  The intergovernmental 
organization attempts to aid aspiring EU states with their 
economic and democratic transitions and EU negotiations 
through parliamentary, governmental, and business contacts. 
CEI is comprised of seven EU member states (Austria, the 
Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and 
Slovenia) and 10 aspiring member states (Albania, Belarus, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, 
Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ukraine). 
 
7. (U) The GOS will focus the CEI's agenda in 2005 on two 
areas: the western Balkans and Ukraine, Belarus, and 
Moldova.  It will attempt to prevent the marginalization of 
these states and strengthen their regional identity.  The 
GOS will also host a May Foreign Ministers meeting, a 
November Prime Ministers meeting, and several development 
assistance programs such as a "know-how exchange," primarily 
targeting economic transformation issues.  The GOS will 
launch a webpage (available in English) in mid-January: 
www.sei.sk. 
MINIMIZE CONSIDERED 
 
THAYER 
 
 
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