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Meseznikov: First 100 Days of Government Resemble 1998
Thursday 14 Octtber 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, October 14 (TASR) - The basic agenda of Iveta Radicova's Government during its first 100 days in office resembles the first few months after the 1998 election, when the first government of Mikulas Dzurinda spoke about "correcting the mistakes" of its predecessor, political analyst Grigorij Meseznikov told TASR on Thursday.
"Of course, the number of issues that needed to be put right in 1998 was much larger, because back then things really had come to such a pass. Conditions were different, we had failed to integrate ... now we're part of the EU," said Meseznikov. Despite this, an analysis of the new Government's aims shouldn't be limited only to the issue of consolidating public finances. "It isn't only about that. The previous government didn't govern exactly in accordance with the principle of liberal democracy. What the current Government is doing now isn't only about rectifying the uneconomic approach of its predecessor but rather a real reformation of the whole process," he said.
Meseznikov added that Iveta Radicova's Government employs a different political style from Robert Fico's cabinet, a different approach to the issue of minority groups, and even when it comes to gearing institutions to a certain regime. He characterised the era of Fico's government as "a time of corruption, the judiciary in a poor state, non-transparency and a low level of efficiency in the state apparatus."
Political analyst Juraj Marusiak agrees with the assertion that the first three months of the new Government can be compared to 1998 only to a certain extent. "The governing Cabinet has announced upcoming changes and anti-crisis measures, although these aren't very clear to date. A second agenda is the effort to discredit the previous cabinet. That's identical to 1998," said Marusiak, noting that Radicova's Government has declared its ambition to govern more transparently than its predecessor. "Iveta Radicova formed the Government with these ideals, but she hasn't been very convincing in this respect so far," he said, referring to scandals surrounding the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Most-Hid parties. On the other hand, the idea of an "atmosphere of threatened democracy" is similar to 1998, and is closely linked to the local elections coming up in November.
Meseznikov sees a regular change in cycles in Slovakia's development since 1990. According to him, political parties have held power that have promoted changes in accordance with functional market mechanisms, the institutionalisation of democratic mechanisms and, later on, integration into the EU and NATO. These cabinets took over power from governments that promoted "counter tendencies". "These cycles are still typologically similar," he said. Because of this, "pro-democratic" parties, including the former Slovak Democratic Left (SDL), have joined coalitions without parties such as Smer-SD or LS-HZDS.
Marusiak thinks that this view is too schematic. "It's true that Smer-SD displays stronger statist tendencies, but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to label it an opponent of democracy." Smer-SD has partly been gaining votes from the nationally-oriented electorate and party among people nostalgic for the communist regime, he conceded. "But to call them opponents of democracy, that would require better justification," he added.
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