US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA79

UNCLAS  BRATISLAVA 000079 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, CU, LO, RU 
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP FEBRUARY 02, 2005 
 
REF: (A) BRATISLAVA 45 (B) BRATISLAVA 17 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
Senior USAID Officials Visit Bratislava; Discuss Cuba 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
1.   (SBU) Adolfo Franco, Assistant Administrator for Latin 
America and the Caribbean at USAID and David Mutchler, Cuba 
Senior Advisor, met with Slovak NGO and governmental 
representatives January 14 on Cuba issues.  Franco said the 
highlight was his meeting with Speaker of Parliament Pavol 
Hrusovsky (KDH), who has been a vocal proponent of human 
rights in Cuba.  Franco thanked Hrusovsky for his principled 
stance on this subject, and they had a friendly dialogue 
about their shared viewpoint.  Hrusovsky later echoed the 
sentiment (Ref A). Media representatives asked Franco and 
Mutchler long and well-informed questions about Cuba, U.S. 
policy toward it, and persistent human rights abuses there. 
 
2.   (SBU) Franco and Mutchler shared further details about 
the current situation in Cuba during a dinner with PM 
Dzurinda's foreign policy advisor, Milan Jezovica, and 
Frantisek Ruzicka, Acting Director General of the MFA 
Section for European Affairs.  Franco related he was 
particularly impressed with NGO activist Eliska Slavikova of 
People in Peril, who had been to Cuba in December and was 
encouraged by the dissident movement but distressed by the 
persistence of the regime's repression.  Franco and Mutchler 
said that the GOS and the EU should focus on the stagnant 
government and continuing human rights abuses in Cuba rather 
than one's position on U.S. policy. 
 
DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY 
-------------------------------------------- 
3. (U) THE NEW DRAFT PENAL CODE NO LONGER INCLUDES THE 
CRIMES OF DEFAMING A NATION, RACE OR RELIGIOUS BELIEF 
INCLUDING DENYING THE HOLOCAUST.  JUSTICE MINISTER DANIEL 
LIPSIC SAID, "ANY THOUGHTS, EVEN VULGAR ONES, ARE PROTECTED 
BY FREEDOM OF SPEECH UNLESS THEY INITIATE ILLEGAL ACTS." THE 
UNION OF THE JEWISH UNION OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AND OTHER 
JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS IN SLOVAKIA (UZZNO) PROTESTED IN A 
PUBLIC LETTER JANUARY 22.  THEY CAUTIONED MPS AGAINST 
LEGALIZING "EXTREMIST AND NEO-NAZI ACTIVITIES" AND NOTED 
THAT NEO-NAZI PROPAGANDA IN EUROPE HAS BEEN ON THE RISE. 
THE HUNGARIAN PARTY (SMK) WILL WORK TO KEEP THE CURRENT LAW. 
LIPSIC INDICATED OTHER LAWS PREVENT NEO-NAZI CRIMES. 
 
4. (U) REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CZECH AND SLOVAK JEWISH 
COMMUNITIES ASKED THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT TO EQUALIZE 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PENSIONS OF PEOPLE WHO SURVIVED THE 
NAZI EXTERMINATION CAMPS.   VICTIMS LIVING IN THE FORMERLY 
COMMUNIST STATES HAVE RECEIVED HALF THE REGULAR COMPENSATION 
RATE THAT WESTERN EUROPEAN PENSIONERS RECEIVE. 
SECRET POLICE ARCHIVE SCANDALS CONTINUE 
 
SIPDIS 
--------------------------------------- 
5. (U) THE INSTITUTE OF THE MEMORY OF THE NATION MADE PUBLIC 
THE COMMUNIST-ERA SECRET POLICY ARCHIVE IN NOVEMBER. 
POLITICAL AND COMMUNITY LEADERS NAMED HAVE MET VARYING 
DEGREES OF PRESSURE TO RESIGN (REF B).  NATO PARLIAMENTARY 
ASSEMBLY VICE PRESIDENT AND SDKU MP JOZEF BANAS ASKED TO 
ADDRESS PARLIAMENT REGARDING HIS COLLABORATION WITH THE 
SECRET POLICE.  HE HAS REFUSED TO RESIGN.  DEPUTY DEANS OF 
 
SIPDIS 
THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN KOSICE ZSOLT LUKACS AND JAN 
KRCHO RESIGNED IN PROTEST AGAINST DEAN JAROSLAV JAREMA. 
JAREMA REFUSED TO RESIGN AFTER BEING NAMED AN ACTIVE 
COLLABORATOR WITH THE SECRET POLICE.  KOSICE DEPUTY LADISLAV 
LANCOS (KDH) RESIGNED AFTER BEING NAMED. 
 
MILITARY DRAFT WILL CEASE BY THE END OF 2005 
------------------------------------------ 
6. (U) CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE SLOVAK ARMY, MAJOR GENERAL 
LUBOMIR BULIK, ADMITTED THAT COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE 
COULD BE TERMINATED EARLIER THAN THE SCHEDULED END OF 2006. 
THE ARMY DOES NOT WANT TO SPECIFY THE DATE TO PREVENT 
SPECULATION FROM YOUNG MEN WHO TRY TO AVOID SERVICE.  THE 
MILITARY WILL RETAIN A CENTRAL DATABASE OF ELIGIBLE DRAFTEES 
IN CASE ADDITIONAL TROOPS ARE REQUIRED.  THE MILITARY WILL 
NOT KEEP A VOLUNTEER MILITARY RESERVE. 
 
EDUCATION REFORM UPDATE 
----------------------- 
7. (U) The next major aspect of the reform agenda, 
introducing low university tuition fees, will reenter the 
legislative process.  Education Minister Martin Fronc 
submitted a new draft for interdepartmental review, which 
parliament will review in March.  This is Fronc's third 
attempt to introduce tuition fees, although SDKU's attempted 
self-redefinition as the "education party" may give the 
reform greater stimulus.  The communist party (KSS) opposes 
the reforms and proposed merging the parliamentary vote on 
university tuition fees with a no-confidence motion against 
Fronc. 
 
 
THAYER 
 
 
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