US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA979

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BRATISLAVA 000979 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FOR EUR/NCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, PINR, ETRD, SOCI, BO, LO 
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, DECEMBER 12, 2005 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 936 
     B. BRATISLAVA 948 
     C. BRATISLAVA 950 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D 
). 
 
SLOVAKIA TO INCREASE FOCUS ON BELARUS 
------------------------------------- 
 
1.  (C)  SMK MP Laszlo Nagy told Poloff on December 7 that 
the SMK party continues to develop venues through which to 
promote democracy in Belarus.  Having signed agreements with 
opposition parties in Minsk already, Nagy said that he has 
met with the Minister of Education to begin discussions of 
bringing Belarusian students to Slovakia on study stays, and 
has begun working through the private sector to get Slovak 
businesses -- many of whom do business with Belarusian 
partners -- to finance reform efforts in Belarus.  In 
addition, Slovakia has been working with the V-4 to 
coordinate "message" and determine at what level such a 
message should be delivered (Nagy mentioned the possibility 
of Javier Solana traveling to Minsk to demarche the 
Lukashenko regime), and said that SMK -- through MFA State 
Secretary Berenyi -- may dedicate as much as 70 percent of 
 
SIPDIS 
its 2006 foreign aid budget to democracy promotion in Belarus. 
 
THOSE FAMILIAR FACES AT THE PROTEST?  SMER MPS 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
2.  (C)  Katarina Nevedalova, a young Smer activist who is 
involved in the party's foreign affairs and youth portfolios, 
told Poloff that Chairman Robert Fico was "quite pleased" 
with the Smer party congress on December 3, which yielded no 
significant changes to the party's platform or organization 
and insured stability moving in to next year's election 
cycle.  While some Smer members remain "SDL members at heart" 
following SDL's merger with Smer last December, Nevedalova 
told Poloff that other members have embraced their new party 
and have leadership positions within Smer.  Nevedalova noted 
that many of the participants in the Smer party congress used 
the mid-day break to walk the short distance to the 
government offices, where they joined protesting police 
employees in their rally for higher pay and more benefits 
(see para 5).  (COMMENT:  KDH Minister of the Interior 
Vladimir Palko would not be surprised by the news that Smer 
members were joining his police officers in the rally, as he 
has been claiming from the onset that the rallies are more 
motivated by politics than labor issues.  END COMMENT.) 
 
3.  (C)  When asked about Smer's performance in the regional 
elections (ref B), Nevedalova said Fico was pleased with the 
outcome, which showed that the party had significant 
"coalition potential."  Nevedalova said Smer "will enter the 
elections as a single party and will worry about coalitions 
the next day."  Still, she admitted, some options were more 
attractive than others, especially given the "personality 
conflicts" between Fico and several other party heads. 
 
DOES SMER HAVE THE SUPPORT IT THINKS IT HAS? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C)  Despite the high polling numbers often cited by Smer 
party leaders, the party may not have the support it thinks 
it has.  During a meeting with the head of the Mayor's office 
in Liptovsky Mikulas, Poloff was told that voters in that 
region "see through" Smer's facade and consider them "the 
same as the Communists who used to occupy this (the mayor's) 
office."  Additionally, Slovak pollster Pavel Haulik told DCM 
that Smer has a young and therefore "unstable" voter base 
that will not show up on election day.  He believes that the 
party pays too much attention to polling in shaping its 
message.  Instead, Haulik said, the party should soften its 
"negative" rhetoric and focus on offering concrete proposals. 
 
POLICE PROTEST AGAIN 
-------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU)  In another in a string of police protests in 
Bratislava, 3,000 officers -- augmented by representatives 
from EuroCop, a Europe-wide law enforcement trade union -- 
protest low wages as well as the decision by Minister of the 
Interior Vladimir Palko to demote the head of the Slovak 
police union in the days following the previous protest on 
October 25.  One sign that drew media attention and the ire 
of many onlookers was one policeman's sign stating that "If 
police officers aren't paid by the state, the mafia will 
gladly step in."  Palko, who has taken a rhetorical beating 
from socialist European Parliament members in Brussels for 
his tough stance, declared the protest yet another "small 
coup" within his Ministry; no follow-up actions have been 
taken, but some police officials tell us that they feel the 
protests have become counter-productive and that they are 
 
losing confidence in the labor union's leadership. 
 
UKRAINE, SLOVAKIA TO INCREASE ENERGY SECTOR COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Ukrainian Charge told DCM on November 29 that the 
late November visit of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy 
Yekhanurov went "extremely well," and that Dzurinda and 
Yekhanurov agreed to more economic cooperation, particularly 
in the energy sector.  Ukraine will export gas to the Czech 
Republic via Slovakia; Slovak companies, in turn, are joining 
in the privatization of electrical power in Ukraine. 
 
MIKLOS:  ELECTION DATE A TEST OF HRUSOVSKY'S LOYALTY 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
7.  (C)  Finance Minister Ivan Miklos told Ambassador that he 
is looking forward to the announcement of the national 
election date next summer, as it will be very important for 
SDKU.  Two dates are possible -- September 9 and September 16 
-- and the September 16 date would, in effect, extend an 
already long Holiday weekend in Slovakia.  If Hrusovsky 
chooses September 16, SDKU's urban voter base will likely be 
away for the weekend, which could hurt SDKU at the polls. 
Thus, Miklos said that the announcement of the date by 
Chairman of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky will be an "important 
test of loyalty" for the coalition.  Miklos also told the 
Ambassador that he feels Freedom Forum (SF) could meet the 
five percent parliamentary threshold in the national 
elections. 
 
OECD: SLOVAKS FOURTH FATEST PEOPLE IN WORLD 
------------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (U)  In the OECD's 2005 international rankings for adult 
obesity, the United States remained in first place, followed 
by Mexico, Britain and then the Slovak Republic. 
VALLEE 
 
 
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