POPRAD, June 18, (WEBNOVINY) – Speaking at the meeting of the SDKU-DS Central Council in Poprad, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova concentrated on evaluation of the first year in government as part of the ruling coalition. “We took over the Slovak Republic in a difficult situation. An extensive economic and debt crisis is far from taking the opposite direction,” the prime minister stated. After the new government took office, the state embarked on cost cutting. According to the prime minister, the Cabinet started with itself, by reducing salaries of constitutional representatives and downsizing the public administration, which has reached about four percent.
Individual ministries implemented austerity measures and started re-evaluating and canceling disadvantageous contracts. Thanks to these measures, basic costs of the state’s operation have been cut by seven percent in the first year of the government, Radicova noted.
One of the Cabinet’s promises was fighting corruption and cronyism, and improving law enforceability. “We will not close our eyes before what has been happening at some courts and the prosecution. We understand that the judiciary has to be independent, but on the other hand we cannot just look at what is happening in this enclosed system. Independence cannot mean immorality, injustice, and willfulness,” Radicova stressed. She considers the decision of the court that former President Michal Kovac has to apologize to the person suspected of involvement in abduction of his son to be a slap in the face of the justice. Furthermore, investigation in the case was halted due to amnesties granted by Vladimir Meciar, she pointed out.
Radicova described the events surrounding the election of the new prosecutor general a desperate fight to prevent changes in the state’s natur. “The fight was worth it, because we promised to change the state’s nature, that this state will no longer be for big fishes, but for citizens,” she said. A change in the post of prosecutor general was inevitable, the prime minister added.
The prime minister highlighted some successes in the economic area that the new government achieved. The past year was about cost cutting and stopping the downfall, while the second year will be about stabilization, she said. The priorities of the Cabinet and the SDKU-DS party will be employment and new jobs, along with justice and law enforceability, as well as healthy economy and support to families.
SITA