BRATISLAVA, November 26, (WEBNOVINY) — Next year’s state budget was the main topic of Friday’s talks of President Ivan Gasparovic and Finance Minister Ivan Miklos (SDKU-DS). The topic of their meeting was also the residence of the head of the state. Minister Miklos promised the president to look for a way to finance the reconstruction the Rusovce mansion, informed the press department of the Office of the President on its website. The president received Miklos on a regular meeting with state officials.
According to Miklos, the president confirmed as his priorities approval of the state budget and above all reducing the deficit. Other topics of the meeting were financing of science, education and healthcare within the framework of the budget. Regarding the unused presidential residence at Slavin, Miklos said that it was only a marginal topic of the talks and it is not an issue for which the president would veto the budget. “At the same time, I agreed that we have to do something with Rusovce [mansion]. The current situation is not tenable, it is a historic monument with which something will have to be done,” the press release quotes Minister Miklos.
The Cabinet’s draft budget suggests selling the presidential residence at Slavin. “It is a Cabinet proposal and I do not have a mandate to change anything about it. The president does not have any problems with [the eventuality of] sale of the villa, it is completely unsuitable for the needs of the President’s Office. The issue is in the case of its sale not to dissolve the proceeds in the budget, but to allocate them for example for [the reconstruction of] Rusovce,” the Finance Minister said.
During his visit to Poprad on November 15, President Gasparovic stated, that he would never agree with selling the presidential residence at Slavin in Bratislava and transferring the proceeds to state coffers, where “they would be squandered”. He would only agree with the sale of the residence in the case that the money would be deposited for the renovation of the mansion in Rusovce. “This is about representation of Slovakia and not about visions of the Minister of Finance. He should look for money somewhere else; he would have enough of it,” the President advised the minister during his visit of Poprad on Monday. He neither supports the solution under which the Slavin residence would be sold and the president would get the villa on Mudronova Street. “I do not need it. There is one more possibility. To sell this villa on Mudronova Street, to sell the residence, put the money together and begin with [the reconstruction of the mansion in] Rusovce. I would sign that immediately,” the President said. He emphasized that he would not veto the state budget because of the Slavin residence. “Why should I make problems and return the budget. It would have to be really poor,” he added.
SITA