EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS SUSPEND SMER WHILE THE PARTY

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000838

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV LO
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS SUSPEND SMER WHILE THE PARTY
GROWS IN POPULARITY ON HOME TURF

REF: BRATISLAVA 553


1. (U) The Presidency of the Party of European Socialists
(PES) suspended the membership of Prime Minister Robert
Fico's Smer party on October 12 for entering into a coalition
with the Slovak National Party (SNS),chaired by Jan Slota.
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said that the European
socialist club "does not believe that its members can enter
Government at any price." The PES Resolution notes that its
members must "refrain from any form of political alliance
(...) with any political party which incites or attempts to
stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred." Only
Smer and the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) voted
against the suspension. The PES will re-evalutate Smer's
membership in June 2007.


2. (SBU) PM Fico's spokeswoman -- in an overly defensive
style that unfortunately has characterized the government's
approach on this -- responded that Smer was punished because
it makes policy for the people, fights with monopolies, and
did not choose the Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) as
a coalition partner. Privately, a contact within Smer tried
to look for the silver lining, noting that PES did not close
the door completely and would continue to have contact with
Smer until the re-evaluation. Boris Zala, a foreign policy
expert within the party and Chairman of the Slovak
parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, and Juraj Horvath,
the party's international secretary and a first time MP,
represented Smer at the PES meeting in Brussels. We will get
a further readout from Zala soon.


3. (SBU) On the day of the PES Presidency vote, Hungarian MEP
and member of the PES Presidency Alexandra Dobolyi remarked
to the media, "We want SNS to get rid of its leader over the
next ten months. Slota is a problem." However, the PES has
not officially stated that removal of Slota from SNS would
result in Smer's reinstatement (and Smer would never agree to
such a price, anyway). In a futile effort to avoid the
suspension, which PES had threatened within days of Smer
forming the current governing coalition (reftel) in July,
Smer had convinced Slota to announce publicly on October 10
that he and SNS reject nationalism and xenophobia. Slota is
well-known for his public anti-Hungarian and anti-Roma
statements over the past decade.


4. (U) The suspension comes at a time when Smer is enjoying
growing popularity within Slovakia. Opinion polls show that
36.2 percent of Slovaks would vote for Smer if elections were
held now and that 40.7 percent of Slovaks rate the first 100
days of the governing coalition's administration as
successful or very successful. In contrast, Smer won 29
percent of the electoral vote in June.
VALLEE