BRATISLAVA September 22, (WEBNOVINY) — Prime Minister Iveta Radicova says that opposition leader SMER-SD Chairman and former Prime Minister Robert Fico has no right to call on her to take action in case of a disputable contract awarded to the company Hayek Consulting. “Shall we pay for criteria for using public finances set in the past? Who set the criteria for below-limit methods? Who set criteria for allocation of finances on the basis of non-transparent project assignments in the first place? Who published contracts? Who was making decisions using below-limit methods without tender? Yes, in accordance with law. Who failed to take action in many cases? Mr. Fico has no right to give his opinion on this issue. He has no right because what we are dealing with right now are consequences of set criteria and regulations he himself took no action against. He did no do anything when a minister together with a state secretary paid to themselves for talking to one another from the European Social Fund. He did not deal with the Privilegium case [unlawful subsidies at the Labor Ministry under Viera Tomanova — editor’s note]. He has no right to call on me to take action,” stated Iveta Radicova for the press.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Robert Fico said that Prime Minister Iveta Radicova will have to solve a dilemma that will very quickly show whether she is a strong prime minister or only a speaker of this government without any influence. If she is strong, she will dismiss not just state secretaries Martin Chren (SaS) and Ivan Svejna (MOST-HID), but also Economy Minister Juraj Miskov, he said. According to him, if Radicova accepts the current situation and backs down, she would create a precedent on the basis of which a contract for EUR 8,000 is acceptable today, which tomorrow may be EUR 8 million and on the following day EUR 8 billion. Fico added that Radicova will now show whether she is a doughface or a person who took the responsibility for managing the Slovak government. If she does not dismiss the state secretaries and draw any consequences towards the Economy Minister, she will lose all respect of the party SMER-SD, he said.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova perceives actions of state secretaries nominated by SaS and MOST-HID Martin Chren and Ivan Svejna as an ethical problem that touches a conflict of interest. She considers the contract that Chren and Svejna concluded to be a conflict of interests. Both state secretaries came in for Iveta Radicova’s criticism about the conflict of interest in the case of a contract of their former company Hayek Consulting, which won a state commission at a time when its co-owners were already state secretaries in the new government. “I will have a meeting with SaS Chairman Richard Sulik. Following the meeting, we will inform on what further steps the coalition will take,” she said. Ms. Radicova underscored that the solution had to be a result of her talks with chairmen of coalition parties. She has already discussed the case with Bela Bugar in the meantime. “After discussion with Richard Sulik, I will summon all chairmen of coalition parties,” she elaborated. The Prime Minister could not guarantee whether it would be today.
Ms. Radicova claims that each political party takes political responsibility for its nominees. “I am not competent to decide on the issue involving state secretaries. It is up to a political party and a minister. I would call on a minister to take action if the matter concerned our party,” she claimed.
SaS Chairman Richard Sulik was not present at the meeting of the Coalition Council last night. He was still on a visit to the Czech Republic. “He informed on his trip a week ago. It is up to his decision whether he takes part at such important meeting of the Coalition Council or not,” said Ms. Radicova. SaS Vice Chairman Jozef Mihal refused to comment on Sulik’s absence at the meeting.
MOST-HID considers the case involving its nominee Ivan Svejna closed because he announced he was selling his stake in the company immediately after he was appointed a state secretary. He left the company. He did not have any say in company’s further actions. “We can see no reason for his resignation,” said party’s Vice Chairman Zsolt Simon.
SITA