AMBASSADOR'S CONVERSATION WITH PM DZURINDA

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000950

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2025
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON LO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S CONVERSATION WITH PM DZURINDA


Classified By: Ambassador R.M. Vallee for reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (U) The Ambassador and his wife hosted Prime Minister and
Mrs. Mikulas Dzurinda for a private dinner November 22. They
agreed that relations between Slovakia and the United States
had never been better. Following are informal notes from the
conversation.

Dzurinda on President Bush, and Possible White House Visit
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2. (C) The Prime Minister believes he and President Bush have
an especially warm and personal relationship. Dzurinda was
pleased that the President twice singled him out at
multilateral meetings, once at a table where he talked with
Dzurinda to the exclusion of jealous colleagues, and once in
the White House where he kept Dzurinda after others had left
to give him a pair of cufflinks and to chat. It is obvious
that the President's visit to Slovakia added to this
perception, and Dzurinda highly values a potential visit to
the White House in the spring.

Politics: "I'm a Marathoner"
--------------


3. (C) The Ambassador and Dzurinda discussed the September
2006 parliamentary elections. The PM said the feel of the
street (he has visited 82 villages in the last 9 months)
contradicts the polls (which show SDKU as low as six
percent),although he is concerned that the natural pendulum
of politics, voter fatigue, and the need for a new face works
against him. He feels that, despite periodic intracoalition
disputes, there is a natural alliance between his own Slovak
Christian Democrat Union (SDKU),the Christian Democrat
Movement (KDH),and the Party of the Hungarian Coalition
(SMK). His continued good private relations with these
partners makes it unlikely they would abandon him for an
alliance with Robert Fico's Smer ("Direction.") (Comment: We
would not rule out KDH or SMK alliances with Smer. In the
November 26 regional elections, Smer-KDH coalitions were
particularly successful. End comment.) Dzurinda admitted a
certain personal tiredness, but said that when he considers a
Smer-HZDS-SNS-KSS possible coalition he gets reinvigorated
("remember I'm a marathoner") to ensure continuity of his
reforms.


4. (C) According to the Prime Minister, Eddy (Foreign
Minister Eduard Kukan) is a great resource, Finance Minister
Ivan Miklos is the "brain" of the SDKU operation, and the PM
is the political "nose." He has been surprised and very
pleased by the performance so far of new Minister of Labor
and Social Affairs Iveta Radicova. She came from the NGO
world and did not have political experience, so it was a
gamble by SDKU to name her to the position. He has reached
out to HZDS--particularly center-right members like Tibor
Mikus (head of the parliamentary committee on European
affairs)--and thinks he could work with the party. He
conceded that HZDS needed Vladimir Meciar to generate any
enthusiasm among its electorate before the election. Post
election, Dzurinda envisioned HZDS ministers, but did not see
a government role for Meciar, even as Speaker of Parliament.
He characterized Meciar as old, tired, and a spent force, who
would be satisified, in the PM's view, with party
chairmanship in a coalition partner party.

Airport Privatization and Austria
--------------


5. (C) The PM had a surprising response to the Ambassador's
query about possible Austrian control of Bratislava's
Stefanik Airport, with Schwechat airport one of the remaining
bidders. While noting that he "did not involve himself in
tenders," Dzurinda thought that "cooperation" (with Austria)
was sometimes better than competition. He reasoned that a
highspeed tram connecting the Bratislava and Vienna airports
plus the strong opposition of the Greens to expanding
Schwechat would bode well for Bratislava even with Austrian
control of the airport. He also said that there was nothing
stopping the winning bidder from flipping the airport to the
Austrians anyway, and it was better that the Slovak taxpayer
received that spread.

Transatlantic Relations
--------------


6. (C) On European relations Dzurinda was extraordinarily
frank. He pointed out that he personally called Aznar and
asked to be added to the coalition of the willing prior to
the Iraq war. He seemed gleeful that the new Central
European member states, combined with Britain, moved the EU
from an organization that "simply parroted the talking points
of the French and Germans." Apparently, before the election
of the last EC Commission head by the European parliament, he
was yelled at by Chirac for opposing the French nominee

("merely a schill for the French"). The PM pointed out to
Chirac that in democracies the plurality rules, and Chirac
didn't have the votes.


7. (C) Dzurinda noted that both Schroeder and Chirac know
that President Bush has done the right thing in Iraq, but
they cynically tap into their electorate with the anti-Iraq
message simply to get votes. He delighted in the fact that
Tony Blair had joined the EPP caucus for discussions and
smiled at the irony. With reference to President Bush's
current approval rating, he noted that leadership requires
courage when doing the right thing, and recalled the
political abuse he suffered in Parliament for granting NATO
overflight permission during the NATO bombings of Serbia.
"Now, 65% of my countrymen approve being part of NATO...And
look at Croatia now, all I see on Galaxie (the local sports
channel) are advertisements to visit Croatia." Dzurinda
called Chancellor Merkel, "the new Iron Lady." He marveled
at how she spoke openly at their first get-together of
raising the retirement age to 68 in Germany. "This lady is
tough, and I look forward to working with her," he noted.


8. (C) The Ambassador thanked Dzurinda for Slovakia's
growing positive role in international affairs, which will
only be enhanced as Slovakia takes its seat on the UN
Security Council in January. He encouraged the PM to work
with us on helping in the Balkans.

Pavol Rusko
--------------


9. (C) Dzurinda confided to the Ambassador that former
Economy Minister Pavol Rusko's accient, in which he
allegedly shot himself in the leg while cleaning a hunting
rifle, was rather suspicious. Rusko has a lot of debts to
unknown "business partners." Furthermore, revelations that
he has been secretly taping conversations with former members
of his ANO party have made many people nervous. Rumors have
been flying around Bratislava that there may be more to the
incident than meets the eye.

Environment and Tourism
--------------


10. (C) The Prime Minister was very thankful for Embassy
efforts to bring U.S. experts to help bridge technical, and
to some extent political, gaps in the current debate over
development in the storm-ravaged Tatras, and the Ambassador
pledged to continue to help. Dzurinda added that he was not
concerned about the (slow) pace of tourism development since
he wanted to make sure it was done in the right way.
VALLEE


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