US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA888

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BRATISLAVA 000888 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, ELAB, PINR, SOCI, LO 
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, NOVEMBER 3, 2005 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 835 
 
     B. BRATISLAVA 735 
     C. BRATISLAVA 877 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee for Reasons 
1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE UNDER DURESS 
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1.  (C)  Agriculture Minister Zsolt Simon (of the Hungarian 
SMK party) has recently come under pressure because of 
allegations that an agriculture company he co-owned received 
SKK 8 million (around USD 250,000) in agricultural subsidies 
from the state budget in 2003.  Simon sold his share in the 
company in 2004.  Prime Minister Dzurinda noted that this is 
"an ethical issue for the Minister and the Party of the 
Hungarian Coalition," and that Minister Simon continues to 
have his trust.  On October 30, SMK leader Bela Bugar accused 
the Slovak Intelligence Service of orchestrating the campaign 
against Simon.  The Agriculture Minister was noticeably 
distracted during the Ambassador's October 31 meeting with 
him, running his fingers through his hair and frequently 
checking messages on his blackberry.  Simon is hoping to 
avoid the fate of his former Deputy, Marian Radosovsky, who 
stepped down October 27 under pressure from KDH leadership 
because of similar ethical complaints.  Radosovsky's company 
received SKK 7.5 million (around USD 235,000) in subsidies 
from the Agriculture Ministry between 2002 and 2004. 
 
RADIO STATION PUTS POLS IN INTERESTING POSITIONS 
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2.  (SBU)  Local radio station Fun Radio's morning show takes 
its honored guests out to perform stunts concocted by the 
station without the prior knowledge of the unsuspecting 
guests.  Some of the gags have featured high-level GOS 
officials; for example, Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda was 
taken to the main train station, where the PM -- who for many 
years was a railway employee -- was seen out on the tracks 
dispatching trains.  Opposition leader Vladimir Meciar was 
given a temporary job as a taxi driver, while on October 31 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Kukan appeared in front of 
the U.S. Embassy, handing out cups of hot tea to visa 
applicants waiting for their interviews as part of a Fun 
Radio stunt. 
 
POLICE GO ON STRIKE; LEADER GETS DEMOTED 
---------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU)  Over 2,000 policemen and women from all corners of 
Slovakia took part in their first protest rally, held in 
front of the PM's office in Bratislava on October 25.  The 
policemen were protesting the decreasing police budget and 
the widening salary gap between policemen and soldiers. 
According to the trade unions, the policemen's welfare 
situation is untenable.  In response to the strike, Minister 
of the Interior Vladimir Palko dismissed the police trade 
union boss, Miroslav Litva, from his position as head of the 
MOI's research and technological development department. 
Palko considers the police protest as the first attempt to 
"infiltrate" politics into the operation of the department 
(Note:  One MOI source told us that there are indications 
that the opposition party ANO was involved in the initiation 
of the rally, and several opposition MPs -- including Smer's 
Robert Kalinak -- also participated in the rally.  End Note). 
 Palko also plans to punish Litva's deputy, Marian Magdosko, 
for organizing the rally.  Under Slovak law, the police are 
banned from striking; Palko believed that a strong response 
was necessary to discipline the police corps for what he saw 
as a clear demonstration of disloyalty, while trade union 
council KOZ is protesting his "abuse of power" in demoting 
police union leaders. 
 
ROMA IN PRESOV:  NO WALL WILL BE BUILT... 
----------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU)  Poloff learned from a October 18 meeting with 
Partners for Democratic Change in Slovakia (PDCS, an 
organization that administers a USAID-funded Roma integration 
program in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary) that 
the so-called "Roma wall" (ref B) will not be built. 
Instead, a fence will be repaired around a retirement 
community in the area, two playgrounds will be built, and a 
room in a nearby community center will be turned into a 
neighborhood police station manned by two officers.  PDCS 
says the Roma community is supportive of this plan, which 
they say is the result of the efforts of Roma Plenipotentiary 
Klara Orgovanova's intervention with city officials.  PDCS 
notes, however, that the city is treating the symptoms, but 
not the problem; Presov officials are considering the 
relocation of even more Roma to the Stara Tehelna 
neighborhood, and the construction of additional low-income 
housing -- but not the services to support it -- in the area. 
The Ambassador will be speaking in Presov next week and will 
raise the issue and reinforce USG interest in the situation. 
 
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS ARE BEING ENFORCED 
------------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU)  A 57 year old bus driver in Presov was recently 
convicted of "defamation on the basis of race, nationality, 
or belief" after he called two Romani sisters traveling on 
his bus without tickets "black mouths that should be sent to 
the gas chamber" in January 2004.  He was fined SK 5000 
(around USD 150). 
 
GENERAL PROSECUTOR PROPOSES ABOLISHING FASCIST PARTY 
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6.  (SBU)  General Prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka submitted a 
proposal on October 31 to abolish fascist political party 
Slovenska Pospolitost (ref c).  Trnka claims that the 
organization's bylaws, programs, and activities are in 
violation of the Slovak constitution, laws, and international 
commitments to protecting individual rights.  The General 
Prosecutor began reviewing the status of the group after the 
NGO People Against Racism filed a claim against Pospolitost 
in July. 
 
GOS ENGAGES SUDAN, CANCELS DEBT 
------------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU)  Slovakia wrote off Sudan's debts in compliance 
with its official development and aid program.  The debt 
relief, amounting to USD 38 million, was part of GOS attempts 
to support Sudanese economic development, democratization, 
good governance.  Slovakia has also upgraded its Consulate 
General in Khartoum to an Embassy, and appointed a Sudanese 
Honorary Consul.  Ministry of Finance officials tell us that 
the GOS is also undertaking the debt relief to meet Official 
Development Aid (ODA) to Gross Net Income goals pursuant to 
the conclusions of the June 2005 EU Summit in Brussels.  The 
relief of the debt, which was considered a "state financial 
asset," will also have a direct affect on the budget, 
increasing Slovakia's fiscal deficit.  It is likely that the 
GOS canceled the debt this year to ease entry in to the ERM2 
"Euro waiting room" in June 2006. 
 
 
SLOVAKS DON'T TRUST HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS? 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
8.  (U)  An October 19 poll released by Slovak daily SME 
asked if readers had sent money for earthquake relief to 
Asia.  While 14 percent responded "yes," 18 percent responded 
"No, I have enough of my own problems," and 61 percent 
responded "No, I don't trust humanitarian organizations" (7 
percent were "undecided"). 
VALLEE 
 
 
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