Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BRATISLAVA716
2004-07-29 08:14:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bratislava
Cable title:  

KDH MUSINGS DURING THE SUMMER LULL

Tags:  PGOV PREL PINR ECON PHUM LO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000716 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ECON PHUM LO
SUBJECT: KDH MUSINGS DURING THE SUMMER LULL

Classified By: DCM Scott N. Thayer for reason 1.4(b).

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000716

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ECON PHUM LO
SUBJECT: KDH MUSINGS DURING THE SUMMER LULL

Classified By: DCM Scott N. Thayer for reason 1.4(b).


1. (C) Summary/Introduction: Slovakia's traditional summer
vacation "cucumber season" allows time for liesurely meetings
and deep thoughts. Poloffs recently met with Michal Dyttert,
spokesperson for Pavol Hrusovsky, who is Chairman of
Parliament and of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).
He openly described the conflict between Interior Minister
Vladimir Palko's arch-conservativism and Hrusovsky's more
moderate Catholic-guided politics. He also discussed KDH's
internal problems dealing with corrupt members and the divide
between Bratislava and the other regions. Following are
Dyttert's summer musings about Slovakia's political scene and
KDH's future. End summary.

Governing Coalition Deals
--------------


2. (C) Alliance for a New Citizen (ANO) seems to have lot of
internal problems and leader Pavol Rusko does not pay
attention to the party because as Minister of Economy he is
busy with the Hyundai/KIA plant and other business issues.
There was a conflict between MPs Jozef Heriban and Eva Cerna
with regard to EU elections. (Note: Cerna confirms this. MP
Jozef Banas left ANO due to Heriban,s ambitions as well.)
It is likely that ANO will merge with PM Mikulas Dzurinda's
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU),most probably
before the end of this term. Some ANO MPs may join other
parties.


3. (C) SDKU has been trying to reach out to independent MPs,
so far successfully. Dyttert is quite certain that the
governing coaltiion will last until the end of its term.


4. (C) The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and KDH are the
only stable parties with values in Slovakia. SMK raises
issues that are rather sensitive for other politicians, who
are wary of Hungarian aspirations for autonomy or territory.
As long as SMK is able to keep these issues under control,
and the SMK and KDH manage not to irritate each other,
cooperation with SMK would be possible in a future
government. He commented on Deputy PM for EU Integration and
Minorities Pal Csaky, who has not been doing anything lately.

He does not have allies within the SMK presidium, but has
popular backing in the regions. However, SMK party leader
Bela Bugar is a reasonable and popular politician.

KDH and its future policy
--------------


5. (C) KDH also has internal tensions. Hrusovsky,s
leadership position is secure and he will be reelected for
another term next year. Dyttert does not think that Palko is
a serious threat to Hrusovsky, because he is too radical and
does not have enough support in the regions. Palko often
makes radical statements, but he does not consult them with
the KDH board or leadership and he is like a &disconnected
railroad car8 that slips out of control.


6. (C) There is a "Bratislava KDH Group." Palko has strong
connections with Bratislava KDH reps like Durkovsky (Lord
Mayor of Bratislava),Ciernik (Old Town Bratislava Mayor) and
Bielik (Mayor of Bratislava's Raca neighborhood). Charges of
fraud against Bielik (who is also party chief for the
Bratislava region) caused KDH negative press recently. In
Dyttert,s view the charges bear some truth, but Bielik is
long-time friend of older KDH officials and they expressed
support for him. Dyttert advised Hrusovsky to ask Bielik to
resign until the charges against him are proved false, but
that didn't happen.


7. (C) Dyttert predicted that in 2010 there will be a
generation change in KDH, but at the moment the top officials
are still relatively young (Palko 47, Hrusovsky 51, Minarik
47) and will stay in politics. Hrusovsky has no major health
problems. He is a sportsman, and although he had
difficulties with his blood pressure, otherwise he is fine.
He is an avid runner and goes 10-15 km distances.


8. (C) Dyttert also mentioned Hrusovsky,s speech at the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly and said that politicians were
surprised (including SMK and other coalition members),
because they were not used to this new terminology (good vs.
evil, comparing war on terrorism to Cold War) in Slovakia.

Inter-religious Dialogue Not a Priority
--------------


9. (C) KDH is not supportive of a dialogue with Muslims or
their request to build a mosque. If they come up with 15
thousand signatures (as the law requires to register a
church) and ask for state support, KDH will have to accept
them; but at the moment, they do not see why Muslims should
have their mosque if they don,t qualify under the law.
Theoretically they could build a mosque even without being

registered, but in practice, they will not get approval from
local authorities in Bratislava (now represented by KDH
officials),nor all the necessary building permits. The
Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) is already following some
Muslim activities (even without a central gathering place);
this was proven by cooperation leading to the arrest in
Britain of terrorists who had been staying in Piestany.

Opposition tensions
--------------


10. (C) The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)
disagrees on how to proceed. One part of Meciar,s party
wants to cooperate with SMER (Veteska, Maxon, Cagala,
Sobona),but the other group (Urbani, Meciar, Pinkava, Rehak)
is more interested in working with SDKU, especially because
some of them are under criminal investigation (Pinkava,
Rehak) for corruption. Meciar was recently plotting a "coup
d'etat" in parliament. He tried to get support from SMER,
Free Forum and the Communist Party (KSS) to overthrow the
current leadership of parliament. However, he has not been
able to gain backing for such action even from within his own
ranks. Meciar will not work with Fico, but he is cooperating
more often with Dzurinda. This was obvious during the past
parliamentary session, when they consulted on some items of
the agenda. Party whip Veteska is often very critical of
Meciar and they had arguments on various issues, however,
Meciar is not ready to give up his position.


11. (C) President Gasparovic will also play a role with
regard to future developments in HZDS. He has good contacts
with some members from his days as HZDS vice-chair, and will
try to plot against Meciar. Gasparovic will also have to
pacify his supporters from the Slovak Nationalist Party
(SNS),who are asking for rewards such as government
positions. Dyttert said Cic was a bad choice for
chief-of-staff due to his communist past.


12. (C) Robert Fico's party Smer ("Direction") has internal
problems. This became evident when publicist Fedor Flasik
backed land owners in Zilina who refused to sell their land
to the state at the assessed price (for the Hyundai/Kia
plant). Fico distanced himself from Flasik and his
activities. It seems Flasik has been gathering money from
various companies under the pretext that it will be used for
Smer, but according to Dyttert, he used some funds for
private purposes. Fico is concerned that Flasik's fuzzy
business deals could affect Smer,s reputation. The party
still does not have well-built regional structures, Fico is
dominating the party, and he is quite jealous of MPs Robert
Kalinak and Monica Benova, who have media appeal.
Competition also exists between the western and eastern wings
of Smer; easterners (Paska, Bucek) want to promote their
people within party structures, but westerners seem to have
better leverage. If Smer doesn't get into the next
government, it will disintegrate.


13. (C) SNS has a chance to get into parliament in the next
elections if the two branches unite. Zilina Mayor and SNS
leader Jan Slota is a very dangerous man; he is very well
connected, including links abroad to various "strange
circles." He is an "emperor" in Zilina and has absolute
power. He is not really interested in national politics, and
his main goal could be to get the party into parliament to
get cover for other activities. Therefore, he allied with
Ana Malikova and will give her free rein. The other wing of
SNS represented by Sulovsky has no power, no money, and few
supporters.

SIS a Partisan institution
--------------


14. (C) Dyttert said KDH believes SIS director Pittner is not
very objective. SIS delivers reports to Hrusovsky in a
random, rather than systematic, manner. When Hrusovsky is
critical of this method and asks about material concerning
MPs, Pittner always says that if he gets requests, he is
ready to supply them. However, asking for reports when you
don't know what is available is like playing, "Go Fish." In
Dyttert's view, Pittner serves Dzurinda's interests and is
not very objective. He thinks that the current corruption
charges against the Agricultural Ministry (headed by SMK)
were made public by SIS with the intent to damage SMK.

Comment
--------------


15. (C) Dyttert represents the "next generation" of KDH
leaders, as KDH is one of the few Slovak political parties to
actively cultivate young members. His sister Laura
Dyttertova is the official KDH spokesperson. Speculating on
politics is a national past-time in Slovakia, and not
everything Dyttert says can be taken as gospel truth. On the
other hand, his position at Hrusovsky's side in Parliament
and in the party, combined with his frankness, offer good

insight into the state of play on the political scene.
Dyttert and his wife have a two-year old son, and a two-month
old son.


WEISER


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