VZCZCXRO1260
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHSL #0719/01 2371341
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251341Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0257
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0400 UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRATISLAVA 000719 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
GENEVA FOR LABOR ATTACHE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS:          
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUND-UP AUGUST 25, 2006 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 666 
      B. BRATISLAVA 586 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000719  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
NEW JUSTICE MINISTER WANTS TO SCRAP SPECIAL COURT 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 1. (SBU) The Justice Ministry, under the auspices of new 
Justice Minister Stefan Harabin, has prepared draft 
legislation to close the Special Court and the Special 
Prosecution Office.  Former Justice Minister Daniel Lipsic 
provided a copy of the draft to the media.  According to the 
draft, both institutions, which were established during 
Lipsic's tenure to fight organized crime and public 
corruption, would be shut down in January 2007.  Lipsic 
commented that the dismissal of well-known mafia-fighter 
Jaroslav Spisiak as Police Vice President and the planned 
closure of the special crime fighting judicial bodies proves 
that the new GOS is "mafia-friendly", a phrase that was 
repeated often by the opposition during the parliamentary 
debate over the government program statement in the first 
week of August (ref A).  In response to Lipsic's recent press 
conference, the Justice Ministry said that the draft bill is 
only one of several possible options and the Ministry has not 
yet come to a final decision.  President Ivan Gasparovic 
publicly confirmed his support for the closure of the Special 
Court.  His reasoning is that the normal court system can 
sufficiently handle cases involving judges and public 
officials.  (COMMENT: We note that the two Deputy Justice 
Ministers recently told us the regular courts were suffering 
great backlogs, so it's not evident to us how they would be 
able to pick up the additional corruption cases.  END 
COMMENT.)  Prime Minister Robert Fico has not commented on 
the issue.  Eight Slovak civil society NGOs have banded 
together in an appeal to the GOS to prevent the closing of 
the two institutions. 
 
 2. (U) On August 25, the Justice Ministry published an open 
letter to Lipsic asking him to reimburse the Ministry for SKK 
2.49 million (USD 80,000) for a survey that he authorized 
during his time as Minister.  In Minister Harabin's view, the 
survey was intended to improve Lipsic's communication 
strategy and public relations not only as Justice Minister 
but also as a member of KDH (Christian Democratic party). 
The Justice Ministry will consider legal action against 
Lipsic if he does not return the money within 30 days. 
 
NATIONAL MEMORY INSTITUTE TO BE HEADED BY A NATIONALIST? 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 3. (U) According to Slovak media, the ruling coalition has 
agreed that the post of Chairman of the National Memory 
Institute (UPN), which is dedicated to publishing the secret 
files of the authoritarian regimes which ruled Slovakia from 
1939-1989 (ref B), belongs to the Slovak Nationalist Party 
(SNS).  The chairmanship has been vacant since the death of 
the institute's founder Jan Langos in June.  SNS unofficially 
tabled three names, with 70-year-old Arpad Tarnoczy allegedly 
the leading possibility.  Tarnoczy, a former HZDS MP, 
unveiled a memorial plaque in 1997 to Jozef Kirschbaum, a 
diplomat of the pro-Nazi Slovak state during WWII and the 
head of Hlinka guards who were notorious for rounding up 
Slovak Jews and sending them to concentration camps. 
According to Jewish Community spokesman Jaro Franek, 
nominating Tarnoczy as Langos's replacement is a "gross 
mockery of everything Langos represented and embodied." 
Deputy Prime Minister Dusan Caplovic denied a political deal 
on the issue but SNS MP Rafael Rafaj confirmed the candidacy 
of an SNS nominee.  Leading coalition party Smer has not 
expressed support for Tarnoczy and may yet come up with 
another candidate.  The opposition parties will likely join 
together to nominate a single candidate.  HZDS Chairman 
Vladimir Meciar opined that UPN has already fulfilled its 
role and should be subsumed into the Slovak Academy of 
Sciences.  DPM Caplovic, of Smer, publicly disagreed with 
Meciar's view.  The new UPN Chairman must be approved by a 
simple majority of parliamentary deputies who are in session 
on the day of the vote, which should be September 7. 
 
 
TRADE UNIONS ENJOY INCREASED INFLUENCE WITH GOS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 4. (SBU) The Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak 
Republic (KOZ) is pleased with their level of influence with 
the new government.  One media commentator even called the 
trade unions the fourth member of the ruling coalition.  In a 
meeting on August 3, KOZ Vice President Eugen Skultety 
explained that 80 percent of their agenda had made it into 
the government program statement.  The ruling coalition has 
promised to revive tripartite talks during labor 
negotiations, which the previous government had abolished. 
 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000719  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 5. (U) Skultety named revision of the Labor Code as KOZ's 
first priority.  They want the law to improve protection of 
workers, including: prevention of misusing self-employed 
contractor status to avoid paying benefits for what are 
essentially regular employees, prevention of re-using a 
probationary period (which has fewer benefits) for successive 
short-term contracts for the same employee, and increasing 
benefits for part-time workers. 
 
 6. (SBU) KOZ supports the controversial EU Directive for a 
maximum 48 hour work week for individuals.  Up till now, the 
GOS has not supported this directive but a British diplomat 
fears that may change.  The UK Minister of Labor may visit 
Slovakia in the next couple of months to discuss the issue. 
 
 7. (SBU) In a meeting with the DCM, the new state secretary 
at the Ministry of Labor Emilia Krsikova discussed the Labor 
Code.  She made it clear that the Ministry wants to enact 
significant amendments.  Although she did not provide 
details, Krsikova emphasized that she wanted to strengthen 
the position of labor unions and contract workers in 
accordance with the European Social Charter and EU 
conventions.  She defended her government's desire to amend 
labor laws by saying that Slovakia would not legislate 
anything that had not already been done in several European 
countries.  We told Krsikova that being different from 
western Europe was exactly what had won Slovakia badly-needed 
foreign investment.  To make Slovakia like western Europe on 
labor law issues would diminish the country's attractiveness 
to investors. 
 
 
CHANGE OF LEADERSHIP AT POLICE HQ 
--------------------------------- 
 8. (U) Minister of Interior Robert Kalinak recalled the 
police president and two vice presidents in early August. 
Jan Packa, currently the head of the Office for Protection of 
Constitutional Officials, will become the new police 
president, replacing Anton Kulich, who will become an advisor 
to Kalinak.  Michal Kopcik, from the Border and Alien Police 
branch in Presov, will replace Jaroslav Spisiak as one police 
vice president.  In the other vice president slot, Stanislav 
Jankovic, currently deputy director of the Bratislava 
regional police, will replace Jan Nociar, who will become 
head of personnel at the MOI. 
 
 9. (SBU) Former Interior Minister Vladimir Palko considers 
Packa and Jankovic to be good choices, but says there was no 
reason to replace the renowned mafia-buster Spisiak with a 
replacement who is too young and inexperienced.  Kalinak, on 
the other hand, praised Kopcik for his strong results in 
fighting illegal migration in eastern Slovakia.  (COMMENT: 
This could be an attempt to aid Slovakia's entry into the 
Schengen treaty, which has already slipped by one year to 
 2008.  END COMMENT.)  For his part, Spisiak is satisfied that 
none of the three new designees have ties to organized crime. 
 
 10. (SBU) According to a contact within the MOI, lower level 
staff hold differing opinions from the politicians.  Among 
the rank-and-file, the new police vice presidents are well 
respected whereas the new president is not. 
 
 
MORMON CHURCH TO TEST 20,000 SUPPORTER LAW 
------------------------------------------ 
 11. (SBU) While Slovakia generally respects freedom of 
religion, it has one of the world's highest thresholds to 
officially recognize a religious institution.  The signatures 
of 20,000 supporters are required to register with the 
government, via the Ministry of Culture.  However, the actual 
language used in the law is ambiguous.  It could be 
interpreted as "members" or "supporters".  (Note: the closest 
literal translation is roughly "20,000 people who declare 
themselves".)  According to an American lawyer representing 
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons 
have obtained a binding interpretation of the law from the 
Ministry of Culture which says the 20,000 signatures can be 
from people who support the registration of the LDS church, 
i.e., they need not be members or adherents to the faith. 
While Mormons number approximately 500 in Slovakia, they have 
started an organized campaign to get the necessary 20,000 
signatures.  At the moment, they've gathered about 1000 - 
anecdotally mostly from Catholics.  The Mormons intend to 
increase their signature-gathering efforts in September. 
 
 12. (SBU) The lawyer for the LDS Church claimed the Ministry 
of Culture has promised to perform the administrative 
processing to register the Church if the necessary signatures 
are obtained.  The fact that the Church would refuse 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000719  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
financial support from the GOS even if registered may help 
their cause.  However, the lawyer worried that SNS, which has 
a state secretary (deputy minister) at the Ministry of 
Culture, may try to obstruct the registration.  Informal LDS 
Church branches are located in Bratislava, Trencin, and 
Zilina, which is SNS Chairman Jan Slota's stronghold. The 
lawyer explained that LDS members in Zilina feel persecuted 
by municipal authorities, but was unable to provide recent 
concrete examples of harassment. 
 
VALLEE