Slovak News Back to the news
Opposition: Slovakia's Direction Must Change After Election
Friday 30 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 30 (TASR) - Opposition politicians when approached by TASR on Friday to sum up the four years of Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) Government concurred that Slovakia's direction must change significantly after the general election on June 12.
"The past four years have been a mix of ups and downs for Slovakia that are related to both the domestic and international environments," said Christian Democrat (KDH) head Jan Figel, adding that only the beginning of Fico's term in 2006 can be described as a success. Both Slovakia's entry to the Schengen zone and the highest economic growth in the EU were the heritage of the two former governments (led by Mikulas Dzurinda), however, stressed Figel.
The KDH chairman further claimed that the current economic situation in Slovakia, which Fico ascribes to the global economic crisis, is largely due to the Government's policies. "The Government failed to take advantage of the good starting point the country had to prepare for the crisis," said Figel.
The past four years have been a compound of incompetence, populism, demagogy and accusations of a lack of social feeling in the previous government, claimed Figel. Meanwhile, the Government is directly to blame for the high public deficit, the rapid growth in the state debt, record-breaking unemployment rates, the poor flow of investments and deepening regional disparities. "At first the Government pretended that the crisis would bypass Slovakia, and now it's almost completely laying the blame for all problems on it," said Figel.
SDKU-DS election leader Iveta Radicova claimed that even though the public has welcomed certain things introduced by Fico's Cabinet, such as Christmas bonuses for pensioners, the overall level of pensions vis-a-vis average salaries has gone down. Conversely, she praised one-time contributions at the birth of a first, second and third child. She views it as unjust, however, that rich parents are also eligible to receive these contributions.
"We have a high unemployment rate, the regional disparities have deepened, the risk of poverty for children and the elderly has increased. As the tax and deduction burden have increased, the position of the middle class has worsened. Only 30 percent of the population trust in the judiciary," she said.
Ethnic-Hungarian SMK chair Pal Csaky criticised what he called the low level of political culture, a lack of dialogue between the governing Coalition and Opposition, and rampant corruption. He pointed out that even Fico once confessed that if there are two bidders with equal projects, the side closer to the Coalition wins. "This is utterly unacceptable and at odds with EU norms," said Csaky.
The SMK leader also pointed out that the public has a worse opinion of the judiciary. "Policies vis-a-vis ethnic minorities have also worsened," said Csaky, adding that the State Language Act must be revised after the election.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
