SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUND-UP DECEMBER 21, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000977 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI LO LH SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUND-UP DECEMBER 21, 2006 REF: A. BRATISLAVA 862 ¶B. BRATISLAVA 830 ¶C. BRATISLAVA 964 ¶D. BRATISLAVA 966 ¶E. BRATISLAVA 750 ¶F. BRATISLAVA 733 ¶G. BRATISLAVA 754 ¶H. BRATISLAVA 764 ¶I. BRATISLAVA 817 THE PROS AND CONS OF FOIA IN THE GOS -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Since the new Smer-SNS-HZDS (Smer-Social Democracy, Slovak National Party, Movement for a Democratic Slovakia) government took office in July, the Embassy has faced increased difficulty in the responsiveness of established contacts from several ministries. Notably in the Ministries of Interior (MOI) and Justice (MOJ),several employees with a history of friendly relations with the Embassy have declined official meetings and said that they can no longer provide the type of information that in the past was considered mundane. For example, in requesting annual police statistics on the number of arrests made for rape, domestic violence, trafficking in persons, etc (for the annual Human Rights Report),MOI contacts are now instructing us to submit a formal FOIA-equivalent request. At least one contact told us frankly that he is nervous that he could lose his job since he was favored by someone in the previous government administration. (COMMENT. We have noticed an initial attitude of suspicion or distrust in many meetings with new MPs and government officials, which we overcome only through frequent dialogue and discussion. We are aggressively seeking meetings with these newcomers and have coined a new phrase for our message-board: "Gone Smering." END COMMENT.) ¶2. (U) On December 13, parliament approved the first reading of a proposed law which included an amendment to make the government cabinet meetings "non-public." Currently, the weekly meetings are tape recorded or filmed, and concerned parties can use the FOIA procedure to gain access to the recordings so long as the topics discussed were not classified. If the draft law is approved through three readings of parliament and signed by the president, the cabinet meetings will no longer be subject to FOIA requests. This is the second attempt of the new government to close its cabinet meetings. The first attempt in July was unsuccessful. In a strategy unusual in Slovakia, the amendment was added to an unrelated draft law submitted by the Ministry of Labor concerning tripartite labor negotiation procedures. JUSTICE IN THE COURT SYSTEM? -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Minister of Justice Stefan Harabin is continuing his recalls of officials in the judicial and legal structures who were affiliated with former Justice Minister Daniel Lipsic (ref B). Some of the latest victims include Alena Polackova, the Slovak representative to the European Court for Human Rights, and Maria Kolikova, Director of the Center for Legal Aid, a government-funded agency which provides free legal counsel to the poor. Approximately 60 employees of the center and several NGO leaders signed a petition for Kolikova to be reinstated. A MOJ contact told us that Harabin has changed nearly all officials at the director level within his Ministry. The only department which remains untouched is International Affairs, where the current Director is unmatched in his language skills and knowledge of EU intricacies. ¶4. (U) Parliament needs to add one more name to the list of nominees to fill nine vacant seats on the Constitutional Court (refs A and B). Due to a parliamentary recess, the earliest time that the last nominee can be added to the list is mid-January. Most of the shortlisted candidates are nominees of the government coalition. After the 18-name nominee list is completed, it will go to President Ivan Gasparovic, who will choose the nine new justices and designate one of the judges as the chairman of the court. Speculation, but no decisive information, continues on whether Gasparovic will select Harabin, who is on the nominee list, for a 12-year appointment to the Constitutional Court, thereby removing him from the post of Justice Minister. ¶5. (SBU) After months of silence on the issue, Prime Minister Fico announced publicly, in a speech to the Smer party congress on December 9 (ref C),and privately (ref D) that he is in favor of keeping the Special Court for corruption and organized crime (ref B),but with some changes such as removing minor bribery cases from the Court's purview. BRATISLAVA 00000977 002 OF 002 Minister of Interior Kalinak, also with Smer, offered the same stance in a media interview the day prior. Harabin, a HZDS-appointee, had officially proposed the closure of the Special Court in September, having first mentioned the idea publicly in August. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS: ETHNIC TENSIONS ON BACK BURNER -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Ethnic Slovak vs ethnic Hungarian tensions (refs E and F) have calmed down considerably since the August-September peak. For the most part, it has been a non-issue for several months as far as domestic politics and the media are concerned. We have frequent discussions with ethnic Hungarian leaders, and they have not been complaining to us recently of discrimination or unfair treatment. In terms of Slovak politics, both sides have their reasons for staying out of the spotlight at the moment. SMK (Party of the Hungarian Coalition) is dealing with internal issues, in particular coping with its position as an opposition party. On the other side, Jan Slota of SNS has, for the most part, been keeping quiet -- likely at the request of PM Fico. MEANWHILE, IN THE HEDVIGA MALINOVA CASE... -------------- ¶7. (U) On November 30, police in Nitra started a criminal investigation against Hedviga Malinova, the ethnic Hungarian student who was allegedly attacked for speaking Hungarian in the city of Nitra (refs F-I),for making a false claim regarding that attack. Malinova, who insists that the attack took place, filed a complaint in December with the Constitutional Court against the Nitra Prosecutor's Office and the Nitra Police Directorate on the basis that they breached her right to protection against inhumane and humiliating treatment and her right to court and other legal protections. ¶8. (SBU) Representatives of SMK have acknowledged, privately at least, that the party was too quick to politicize the incident, in part by initially providing legal counsel for Malinova. Malinova now has a non-political lawyer. MEMORY OF THE NATION CONTINUES TO OPERATE HEADLESS -------------- -------------- ¶9. (U) Parliament again failed to agree on a new chairman for the Institute of the Memory of the Nation (ref A),an organization mandated to publish the files of the fascist WWII and communist Slovak regimes. Successful public lobbying efforts by the local Jewish community led to the withdrawal of candidacy by Arpad Tarnoczy, an SNS nominee who leads a group that admires and promotes the memory of fascist era Slovak leaders. ¶10. (U) The Slovak cabinet will posthumously honor two Slovak Jews with a state award. Alfred Wexler and Rudolf Vrba escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp and were the first to tell the world of the horrors that were occurring there. The contributions of the two had not previously been officially recognized by the Slovak government. GENDER STAYS ON THE AGENDA, DESPITE LOSS TO VILNIUS -------------- -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Six members of parliament, from three parties covering both the coalition and opposition groupings and who belong to the Committee for Human Rights, Minorities, and the Status of Women, have cited gender equality as being high on the committee's agenda. Two committee members have traveled recently to European conferences on the issue. Slovakia had been on the shortlist to become home to the EU's new Institute for Gender Equality (ref A) but lost out to Vilnius. One international observer noted that Slovakia has received criticism within the EU for the unequal status of women within the workplace and society. VALLEE