US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA702

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BRATISLAVA 000702 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/01/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SMIG, PHUM, PARM, SOCI, KDEM, LO 
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, AUGUST 2005 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 606 
 
     B. 04 BRATISLAVA 151 
     C. STATE 131485 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee for Reasons 1.4(B) 
and (D). 
 
ARMS DEALER: U.S. EMBASSY MUST APPROVE OUR EXPORTS(!) 
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1.  (C)  During a meeting with Cino Straka, a former Slovak 
arms dealer, Poloffs learned of a erroneous (yet perhaps 
auspicious) piece of misinformation: the assumption by this 
arms dealer that all exports of Slovak manufactured military 
hardware must be approved by the United States Embassy in 
Bratislava.  Straka told us that during his proposed export 
of tank replacement parts and supplies to Libya early last 
year (ref B), he learned of the "requirement" to clear all 
Slovak manufactured military equipment and parts through the 
U.S. Embassy, which he said arose from a 1999 agreement 
between the GOS and the then-U.S. Ambassador.  When the 
Embassy advised him against transferring the tank equipment 
to Libya, he indeed called the deal off, though he told us 
that he is not sure such a "requirement" will stand if Robert 
Fico -- a friend of Straka's -- becomes Prime Minister next 
year. 
 
HZDS BEING CORDIAL WITH COALITION TO WIN OVER THE U.S.? 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
2.  (C)  During an August 22 meeting, HZDS party leader (and 
frequent Meciar emissary to the Embassy) Milan Urbani told us 
that he met with Prime Minister Dzurinda on August 20 to 
discuss the political situation in light of the "crisis" 
surrounding Pavol Rusko. Urbani told us that HZDS had decided 
not to join the coalition if offered, but that HZDS would not 
"gang up" on Dzurinda (Note:  Though Urbani told us that HZDS 
would not support early elections, five days later the press 
reported that party Vice Chairman Viliam Veteska was 
supporting early elections, calling the coalition "Slovakia's 
misfortune").  Urbani told us that HZDS had made the decision 
to play nice with the coalition because HZDS wants "good 
relations" with the United States.  Urbani further asked 
whether he could meet with recently-arrived Ambassador, to 
discuss a possible future meeting between the Ambassador and 
HZDS Chairman Vladimir Meciar.  PolEcon Chief explained that 
the Ambassador would be meeting with small groups of leaders 
from all major political parties, including HZDS, but that 
meeting would not include Meciar at this time. 
 
SLOVAK FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AMENDED 
----------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C)  Slovak NGO representatives have criticized the 
Slovak version of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 
which was passed in 2001 in an attempt to add to Slovakia's 
anti-corruption "tool kit."  Under the 2001 act, "personal 
data" was protected from release, and many government 
agencies and officials -- especially at regional and local 
levels -- found this an excuse to protect information about 
everything from the number of employees in their offices, to 
the particulars of their publicly-funded salaries.  NGO 
communities felt it was a major barrier to transparency.  The 
media have been unanimously critical of 
politicians/officials' reluctance to provide such information. 
 
4.  (SBU)  On August 24, the GOS approved the proposal of a 
draft amendment to the FOIA that would make the law more 
clear, and insure that salaries of regional and local 
officials will not be concealed.  The proposed amendment -- 
which will now be sent to the parliament for discussion and a 
vote -- calls for information from meetings of city and 
regional councils to be more readily available, and the sales 
of real estate owned by local, regional, and central 
government entities to be made more transparent.  While in 
the past doubt has been cast on the legitimacy of some 
officials' real estate holdings, the new amendment would 
mandate that the names of those who acquired the property 
from the government be made public.  NGOs provided extensive 
public comment on the amendment, and their suggestions were 
widely accepted by the Ministry of Justice.  NGO Alliance for 
Fair Play issued a statement declaring its satisfaction with 
the law, but noted that it will be closely monitoring the 
legislative debate in parliament to see if MPs try to weaken 
the amendment. 
 
UNHCR:  SLOVAKS NOT VERY OPEN TO REFUGEE ASSISTANCE 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
5.  (C)  Pierfrancesco Maria Natta, the representative of the 
UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bratislava, told Poloff 
that he raised the issue of Uzbek refugees in Kyrgyzstan (ref 
C) with MFA State Secretary Magda Vasaryova during the visit 
of the new UNHCR Director for Europe.  Natta expressed regret 
-- but not surprise -- that Slovakia, whose refugee centers 
are "quite empty" at the moment due to a decrease in the 
number of migrants and refugees transiting Slovakia, 
preferred a "burden sharing" approach that they said should 
be worked out with other EU countries.  Not able to wait for 
Slovakia, UNHCR accepted an offer from Romania to take 452 
Uzbek refugees for six months. 
 
VALLEE 
 
 
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