SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP AUGUST 24, 2004

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000802

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP AUGUST 24, 2004


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

Religious Communities May Get Second Restitution Possibility
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1. (U) The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has prepared a draft
bill to return confiscated church property. Under its terms,
churches and religious communities would be able to reclaim
property that was confiscated or transferred to the state between
May 8, 1945 and 1990. The Jewish community could reclaim
property confiscated as early as November 1938 (when anti-Jewish
legislation was introduced). The MOA draft bill essentially
reopens a process that originally expired in 1994 and removes
discrepancies that existed between registered religious
communities and private persons in the past. Private citizens
were granted an additional period for reclaiming land in 2001,
while religious communities were not. The bill is under
discussion in parliamentary committees.

General Prosecutor's Office Defends Decision to Free Majsky
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2. (SBU) Katarina Leiferova, the Prosecutor General's chief of
staff, told poloff her office is considering legislative changes
to the Law for the Special Prosecutor's Office (which deals with
organized crime and high-level corruption). The GP wants to
increase cooperation between state witnesses and police
investigators who work on the same cases.


3. (SBU) Leiferova defended Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka`s
controversial decision to release from pre-trial custody Jozef
Majsky, the business tycoon charged with white collar crimes.
She expressed confidence in Trnka's ability to make unpopular,
albeit correct, legal decisions. She stated that time will tell
that it was the right decision, and the GP's office did not
appreciate politicians' unsupportive press statements (a
reference to Justice Minister Daniel Lipsic's public criticism of
the decision). There was no new evidence being collected against
Majsky and no need to prolong his detention since Majsky's
presence in court was not needed. Leiferova added that if he
were unable to attend the trial due to illness, the case could go
forward on the available information. (Note: Illness is not the
issue, flight is. According to Slovak law, a case can be tried
in absentia if the accused has been delivered the file, summoned,
property interrogated, informed about his right to study the
file, etc., and if the crime carries a maximum sentence of five
years in prison. Majsky's alleged crimes may carry a higher
sentence.)

New Social Fund Focuses on High Unemployment Areas
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4. (U) A new "Social Fund" administered by the Ministry of Labor
and financed mainly through the European Social Fund, will assist
unemployed and socially disadvantaged Slovaks. The fund is now
operating in the fifteen localities with the highest unemployment
in the Banska Bystrica, Kosice, and Presov regions. The Social
Fund will make large grants up to 70,000 Euro and micro-grants
for 25,000 Euro, totaling 15 million Euro for 2004-2006. The
basic structure is similar to many USAID grants, such as the four-
year regional Roma Integration Program, in that it focuses on
developing partnerships and projects from the bottom up.


5. (SBU) The fact that the Social Fund will not be dedicated
exclusively to Roma projects has prompted some controversy.
Lenka Vavrekova, Director of the Fund, told emboffs that the Roma
Plenipotentiary and other activists have sought more control over
the decision-making and argued that all grants should be geared
towards Roma. The GOS countered that not only Roma suffer
problems of unemployment and poverty.

THAYER


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