COALITION NEEDS ANO LIKE A FISH NEEDS A BICYCLE

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000694 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM ECON ETRD PINR LO SUBJECT: COALITION NEEDS ANO LIKE A FISH NEEDS A BICYCLE REF: A. BRATISLAVA 683 ¶B. BRATISLAVA 682 ¶C. BRATISLAVA 677 ¶D. BRATISLAVA 663 ¶E. BRATISLAVA 626 ¶F. BRATISLAVA 618 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (SBU) In the wake of the sacking of their party leader, Pavol Rusko, seven MPs from the Alliance of New Citizen (ANO),in addition to Minister of Culture Toth, Minister of Health Zajac, and another independent MP, have submitted a written pledge to support the GOS coalition. With this declaration of loyalty August 26, Prime Minister Dzurinda can ignore former Minister of Economy Rusko's request to remove Toth and Zajac, and be assured that he still maintains ample support to pursue his agenda and pass the national budget later in the fall. One of the members of the breakaway group, ANO Vice Chairman and caucus leader Lubomir Lintner, said that the loyalty of this gang of eight also allows Dzurinda to amend the coalition agreement, scratching ANO's name off of it and replacing it with this new caucus. RUSKO STILL HAS REGIONAL SUPPORT, AND THE HELM -------------- - ¶2. (SBU) That said, ANO Chairman Rusko received statements of support from all but one of the regional branches of his party. The Presov branch, the only one to side against him, was likely influenced by the fact that their member, Peter Biros, was excluded from party presidium meetings earlier in the week. While there is clearly a struggle for control going on within ANO, the party is likely to remain loyal to Rusko's leadership, as his ample pocketbook continues to support the party's structures and the influence of his television station has always been an asset to the movement. ¶3. (SBU) MP Jirko Malcharek and Lintner, who were both informed by the party that they are no longer members of the presidium, claim that the August 27 meeting of the ANO leadership (which will include the presidium, youth branch, and regional leadership) is going to be manipulated by Rusko. They pointed out that many members of the regional branches were not informed of the venue of meetings this week, making it impossible for them to attend to discuss the party's future or their confidence in Rusko. THE GANG OF EIGHT: WHO ARE THEY? -------------- ¶4. (U) The seven ANO MPs who signed the statement of coalition support were Lubomir Lintner, Jirko Malcharek, Peter Biros, Jozef Elsner, Jozef Heriban, Rudolf Chmel, and Stanislav Kropilak. They were joined by independent MP Anton Danko, himself a former member of ANO, and Ministers Frantisek Toth and Rudolf Zajac. VALLEE NNNN