SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, APRIL 26, 2006

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000343 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2021 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR SMIG EAGR SOCI UK IZ LO SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, APRIL 26, 2006 REF: BRATISLAVA 256 Classified By: DCM Lawrence R. Silverman for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). SMER AND KDH VOTE AGAINST EXPANDING MANDATE IN IRAQ -------------- -------------- ¶1. (C) On April 20, the Slovak parliament approved an expansion of the mandate of Slovakia's demining unit in Iraq, allowing for increased force protection and training roles. Unsurprisingly, communist party KSS voted against the mandate, as did opposition party Smer (including Robert Fico, but not Defense Minister-hopeful Robert Kalinak, who abstained from the vote). Former coalition party KDH, which opposed the Iraq invasion from the very beginning, also voted against the bill. KDH contacts tell us that MP Jan Carnogursky was behind this most recent vote; Carnogursky organized anti-NATO and anti-Iraq campaigns in the past, and harbors strong "Slavic unity" sentiments. Likely at his urging, KDH has also incorporated eventual withdrawal from Iraq into its campaign platform. FICO AND BLAIR REMEMBER THEIR MEETING DIFFERENTLY -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C//NF) Sources at the British Embassy in Bratislava were unpleasantly surprised when Smer chairman Robert Fico told the press after his April 18 private meeting with Tony Blair in London that Fico and Blair had "agreed" that Slovak reforms needed to be re-examined. According to UK diplomats, Blair actually told Fico that the UK was pro-reform in Slovakia, and that it would be important for Slovakia to "stick it out" through the inevitable growing pains that come from making much-needed changes to the country's economy. ¶3. (C//NF) The British Embassy called No. 10 Downing Street for guidance following Fico's announcement; Blair's office advised that while Blair does not comment on private meetings, the Embassy should refer journalists to Blair's comments during a March official visit to Bratislava, where he was quite explicit in his support for Slovakia's reform agenda in meetings and press conferences. SLOVAKIA EASES LAWS ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS -------------- -------------- ¶4. (U) Slovakia recently revised its laws on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, easing restrictions on their use. Included in the legislative overhaul was a deadline for confirmation of registration of GMOs (30 days, where previously no deadline existed and applications were allowed to stagnate) and the elimination of "minimum distances" between GMOs and other plants, which shall now be determined on a case by case basis by the Ministry of Agriculture. The law will go into effect on June ¶1. AFFILIATES OF U.S. HATE GROUPS ARRESTED -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Two extremists with ties to U.S. hate groups World Church of the Creator and National Alliance were recently arrested for violent crimes, according to sources at the Ministry of the Interior who requested additional FBI information on the groups' activities in the region. According to MOI, World Church of the Creator "priest" Rudolf Schutz has previously traveled to the U.S. for "training," which MOI tells us has complicated their efforts to monitor Schutz and his associates. National Alliance member Michal Mesticky was arrested after attacking a Japanese contractor in the northern city of Zilina. (Note: This information has been passed to LEGATT Prague. End Note.) PARLIAMENT PLUGS GAP IN CORRUPTION LEGISLATION -------------- - ¶6. (U) The Supreme Audit Office has been authorized by parliament to audit local and regional governments, companies with government shares, and foreign aid funds (including EU assistance),plugging an important gap in Slovakia's previous anti-corruption legislation. The Supreme Audit Office will now be able to exercise some oversight over local and regional authorities whose budgets were increased dramatically during the "decentralization" of Slovakia's government, and whose leaders were often tempted to misuse the large sums they suddenly found under their control. APPEAL COMMITTEE FOR SECURITY CLEARANCES REINSTATED -------------- -------------- BRATISLAVA 00000343 002 OF 002 ¶7. (SBU) Parliament approved the creation of a special parliamentary appeal committee for security clearance decisions issued by the National Security Office (NBU). The re-creation of the body, which was previously declared unconstitutional by Slovakia's Constitutional Court, was supported by all MPs present except for KDH. HUNGER STRIKE AT ASYLUM CENTER -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Media reported April 13 that refugees at the Medvedovo asylum center went on a hunger strike to protest their continued detention and limited freedom. 63 of the 79 people at the center refused lunch the first day. UNHCR representative Pierfranceso Maria Natta tells us that such hunger strikes are not new, and that this particular action was the result of complaints about food quality coupled with recent UNHCR success in getting several people released from the center in recent months. Natta noted that there is increased tension and depression among those held at the center. UNHCR continues to work with both migrants and the GOS to improve the administrative framework of Slovakia's migration institutions, and has had some recent success in getting the GOS to adopt several recommendations on how to prevent sexual and gender based violence at the camps. VALLEE