SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP JANUARY 20, 2006

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000051

SIPDIS


STATE FOR EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2021
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR MARR MASS SOCI AF LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP JANUARY 20, 2006

REF: 05 BRATISLAVA 1010

Classified By: DCM Lawrence R. Silverman for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

WORST AIR CRASH IN SLOVAK HISTORY LEAVES 42 DEAD
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1. (U) Only one passenger out of 43 survived when a Slovak
Air Force An-24 crashed January 19 into the side of a
snow-covered mountain in northeastern Hungary, three
kilometers from the Slovak border. The flight was returning
from Kosovo with 28 members of Slovakia's KFOR peacekeeping
contingent, as well as seven crewmembers and eight uniformed
members of the General Staff. As of January 20, all the
bodies of the soldiers had been recovered and the cause of
the accident was still unknown. A second flight that had
left Kosovo shortly after the first arrived safely with the
lost soldiers' luggage and equipment.


2. (C) The flight was piloted by Colonel Miroslav Novak,
Commander of the Malacky Air base and a respected reformer
within the military. The Slovak public is in shock, and a
National Day of Mourning has been set for January 23. We
note that the loss of the commanders -- as well as the
aircraft -- is a huge blow to the Slovak armed forces.

MINISTER OF JUSTICE "TIRED," WON'T SEEK CABINET POST AGAIN
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3. (C) Minister of Justice Daniel Lipsic told Ambassador
during a private dinner that his time in the cabinet has left
him "tired." While he will run on the candidate list of
Christian Democrat party KDH, he will not seek a ministry
position again. Lipsic, who greatly admires former Attorney
General John Ashcroft, said he understands "why Ashcroft left
early." Lipsic is most proud of his accomplishments
combating corruption and organized crime. He said that no
government will ever be free of corruption, but he believes
Slovakia has made more progress in this area than any other
central European country. While he doesn't know "what's
next" for him after the national elections in September, he
has considered becoming a prosecutor in Slovakia's special
corruption court, which he created.


3. (C) Lipsic told the Ambassador there is an agreement
between the coalition partners that if any of the parties
does significantly better than the others in the national
elections, that party will pick the prime minister. If KDH
-- which performed better than other coalition parties in
November's regional elections-- should do as well again,
Lipsic said that current Chairman of Parliament Pavol
Hrusovsky would "absolutely" want to become PM. Lipsic said
a government with HZDS and KDH was out of the question, even
if former PM Vladimir Meciar were not seeking a leadership
position, because "HZDS is Meciar." Lipsic said that he
personally has a good working relationship with the
opposition Smer party, which has been supportive of Lipsic's
anti-corruption efforts and legislation. An avid diver and
photographer, Lipsic told the Ambassador that while he
prefers to dive in Croatia, he learned -- and continues to
sing the praises of -- diving in Slovakia's mountain lakes.

SECURITY STRATEGY MAY INSULATE COALITION IN ELECTIONS
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4. (C) State Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister) Magda
Vasaryova (SDKU) opened a January 13 meeting by reassuring us
that SDKU would not drag foreign policy into this year's
national elections. She told us SDKU is disappointed that,
"since Gerhardt Schroeder, it has become fashionable to be
anti-American during domestic elections." Vasaryova
cautioned that opposition parties -- particularly Smer --
could be tempted to open topics such as Iraq and Slovak
support for U.S. policy, but that SDKU was prepared.
Vasaryova noted that the Security Strategy passed by the
parliament last year (ref B) specifically codified a "special
relationship" between the U.S. and Slovakia, to which the
opposition did not object. SDKU is quite ready to remind the
public of this fact in the event of America-bashing during
the election.

400 ELECTION OBSERVERS TO UKRAINE
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5. (C) Slovak NGO activist Peter Novotny -- who also serves
as co-head of the European Network of Election Monitoring
Organizations (ENEMO) told us January 11 that ENEMO is
preparing to deploy 400 election observers to Ukraine in
March, an effort it will undertake in loose coordination with
ENEMO member Committee of Ukrainian Voters (CVU). Of the
400, Novotny told us that he hopes at least 10 percent will

be long-term observers there for 7 weeks. According to
Novotny, SlovakAid, the aid arm of the MFA, has budgeted USD
300,000 for election monitoring in Ukraine and Belarus this
year, and his group (through its Slovak member organization,
Obcianske Oko or "Civic Eye") will be requesting some of
those funds to support its efforts. Novotny expects to head
the Ukrainian mission himself, noting that they are focusing
less on Belarus because, with Lukashenko on the ballot, the
election is already invalid.

HZDS TRIES TO WIN (FOREIGN) HEARTS AND MINDS
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6. (C) Poloff met January 17 with Andrea Haskova, the new
Assistant to HZDS Foreign Affairs Secretary (and former
Foreign Minister under Meciar) Zdenka Kramplova. Haskova, a
25 year old part-time law school student, said she was
disappointed with the ruling SDKU party and that she does not
like the left-leaning Smer. Haskova is not a member of HZDS
and did not seem to have a particular interest in politics,
yet her current job finds her making courtesy calls on
foreign Embassies to "offer her services" as a liaison with
Meciar and the party. Haskova gave us an English-language
HZDS brochure, published in 2001, with a glossy cover
featuring the EU and NATO emblems, an American and Slovak
flag waving side by side, and the HZDS logo. The content of
the publication attempts to "re-write" HZDS' past: In the
"brief history" of HZDS the flier claims "as soon as the
nation gained independence, the HZDS confirmed Slovakia's
pro-integration course and ambition to join the European
Union and NATO." No mention is made of Meciar's failed bid
to thwart NATO accession via a referendum.

SLOVAKIA DONATES MILITARY AID TO AFGHANISTAN
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7. (SBU) The Slovak cabinet approved a plan to donate 2,200
tons of excess military materiel -- including pistols,
machine guns, RPG launchers, and artillery pieces and
ammunition -- to Afghanistan to help the country rebuild its
army. Defense Minister Juraj Liska said the value of the
donation is SKK 455 million (around USD 14.5 million).
Afghanistan will use FMF funds to cover transport costs for
the transfer of the materiel.

VALLEE


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