BRATISLAVA, June 10, (SITA)- Opposition SMER-SD Chairman Robert Fico again harshly criticized the situation in Slovakia on Friday, attributing deterioration to the current government. He told reporters that Slovakia is getting into debt, more people are facing poverty, prices are growing steeply and the government is weak and incompetent. This is the result of the operation of the current government, born of the June 2010 parliamentary elections. Fico said that no concrete outcome was presented in the SDKU-DS evaluation of this government’s first year in office earlier on Friday. SDKU-DS representatives would have had to admit to the catastrophic results of their rule. He also criticized Prime Minister Iveta Radicova for her claim that the decline has been halted in Slovakia. He insists that the current government did not halt the decline of the country, but started it.
Fico underscored that people are currently not doing better than under his government because the growth of prices driven by higher taxes is twice as high as in the Czech Republic. “The growth of prices is higher than the growth of wages. Real wages are sinking,” he said. The ex-prime minister specified that the fall in real wages comes after a long period. People strongly feel the deterioration of the economic situation. “I ask Iveta Radicova why she is silent about this. Why did not she say that people have less money in reality?” asks the opposition leader.
SMER-SD is also pessimistic regarding the prospects for a better life here. He predicts that the prepared changes will bring wages down. “The crisis is over. Why didn’t Iveta Radicova admit that people will pay EUR 550-600 more for basic needs due to the nonsensical package?”
Fico also said that one of the biggest triumphs of the “conglomerate,” as he calls the four-member ruling coalition, which is the accusation that public finances were disrupted in his era and the country got into debt is in ruins. Fico admitted that they increased debt, along with the whole world. “It was the only way to protect ourselves from the impact of the crisis,” he underscored. He said that the conglomerate has a plan to increase debt by EUR 12.5 billion in 2011-2014. In 2011, debt per capita will surge by EUR 700.
Fico said that Slovakia has failed to grow stronger in the international field as well, pointing at problems in Slovak foreign policy. “Slovakia is perceived as a dependent child and Iveta Radicova owes much to Viktor Orban, since he supported her presidential campaign,” he said.
SITA