A bit too late

Slovakia's judges during a recent press conference openly criticised the critical state of the judiciary system. After an earlier fairly shy-ish attempt, more anonymous critical voices have finally and slowly emerged from the background. The problem with the courts is multi-fold; While in the Dzurinda years, Slovakia has made great progress to uplift the status of the legal system, Fico's government has found an effective way to undermine, even reverting the whole process. To appoint a dubious candidate to become the Minister of Justice was not so much of a coincidence, resulting in further allocation of critical key positions to loyal friends was more than a bad omen. By systematically putting a firm grip on the wheels of justice was a leap back in time of at least 15 years.

Fico may perhaps pretend being not-involved, since he feels that he as a politician should not interfere with the judiciary realm, is to say the least hypocrite. He allowed his cronies to go ahead with the erosion of ethics, blackmailing, and influencing court verdicts in favour of some interested parties, which is unheard of in Western societies. 

The newpapers and other media paid much attention to this initiative - for an open justice. Equally, Western diplomats attended the event, and their remarks are not very flattering. On the one hand, the attention of Western diplomats can be regarded as finally a good sign. On the other hand, during Mečiarism Slovakia had much to lose if it could not enter the NATO or the EU... Once inside the club, the political malfunctioning is hardly an issue to put on any European agenda. And even if the British and the US Ambassador air some critical voice, Fico has already damaged enough. The support from the West is nice, but a little to late. 

MS

The Fico-Phenomenon

While watching today's political debating programme (as far as one could label the programme as such), I had to think of one of my friend's remarks. A few Fridays ago, we sat in an intellectual environment in the very heart of Bratislava and discussed for hours Slovakia's politics. Unlike me, he is definitely not a newcomer, and we share the same Leiden University background. Having frequently published about Slovakia's history, we approached current politics with historical givens.

Prime-minister Fico - I must admit - for the first time was somewhat grilled by the Markiza TV moderator (his monologue ranting of Soviet-styled propaganda was not accepted any longer, and he was corrected on properly answering the posed questions). Nevertheless a few observations immediately popped up;

Fico clumsily contradicted himself a few times; what he defended a year ago or more recently, suddenly he completely swiped off the table. A fatal mistake for a politician, not even to mention for a prime-minister. The second (co-)guest of the debate, the Slovak Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) leader Pál Csáky put it - although perhaps too meekly to be fully noticed - that the prime-minister had to bear full responsibility for the actions of his cabinet members; even if they belonged to a different party within the coalition.

The strategy of Fico, to evade questions, to deviate from the issue and point the attention to other matters (irrelevant even), seemed somewhat losing effectiveness. My earlier mentioned buddy labelled Fico as a phenomenon, for he was skilfully manipulating everything around him, covering the greatest financial scandals around him in thick mist. Billions of Euros disappearing, without any state attorney to lift a finger, despite causes that were as clearly foul as could be.

For the first time, and it was not a wishful thinking, I saw Fico a bit on the losing side. Admittedly, a well prepared, or rather a more courageous investigative journalist would oppose him more. Some of the audience - as I can observe in different discussions - have a feeling that the anchorman went too far. A critical question is regarded as impertinent by the broad public, instead of a lead to unravelling murky practices. The good guy is bad, and the bad guy is good. Democracy is turned upside down this way. The journalist is there too, to check what the results are of the voted leader - is the voter too embarrassed to admit being deceived (that is, having voted for the wrong guy), or is it a fact of not being used to these mechanisms?

Fico has indeed been an effective phenomenon, soviet style. He made a few deadly mistakes; a greedy person tends to do so; becoming too complacent. Perhaps that will become his downfall after all... All phenomenons have to end sometime.

MS

Mabuhai - or how to fob a nation

This is not a local delicacy, or a traditional Slovak folk game. It is a welcome phrase, which you tell your Filipino guests when they arrive. A while ago - I must admit, some months have passed, but the matter kept hanging in my mind - several minutes were dedicated to a co-operation deal between the Republic of the Philippines and Slovakia, to further develop i.e. tighten tourism-activities. I still remember driving around our local mall and couldn't help to laugh. 

The local honorary consul of the Philippines to Slovakia, elicited what a potential package chances was opened hereby; namely, the Philippines having almost 100 millions of inhabitants, so the Slovak tourism industry could certainly an influx of curious travel-happy Filipinos, not being able to wait exploring Slovakia. In principle, everybody is more than welcome to visit the beautiful Tatra Mountains. 

In my view, there are a few 'buts', which perhaps the honorary consul forgot to mention: Firstly, having a population of 100 million, is definitively not saying that a huge group of tourists will en masse flock to Slovakia. As I know the Philippines quite well, the overly majority of the population has problems enough to feed itself, being in need of the very basic existential means. 

Secondly, those who have the means for exclusive travels abroad, rather head to America. Going skiing will be either - although this is a rare sport for Filipinos - in British Columbia or Colorado. Eventually St Moritz. Thirdly, and perhaps more important; Filipinos would be shocked about the tourist infrastructure and poor unprofessional and sometimes rude services in Slovakia. So, prices perhaps would seem more attractive - Slovakia cannot provide the expectations in the first place.

I earnestly cannot understand the extensive radio coverage, as if Slovakia has gained a historical billion dollar deal. When searching for the web-page of the consulate, it took me a long time to figure out the name of the dear man (and that only, by deducing it from the e-mail address). I get the feeling, that the honorary consul has somewhat concocted a marketing campaign for himself - after all he is a businessman. And the media ate from his hand. To all dear Filipinos; Mabuhai, welcome! Slovakia ay talagang masyado maganda, pero walang mga class. 

A nice example, how to again fob a (Slovak) nation. The next canard will be probably about a gigantic export order of garden-furniture to the Antarctic. Let's learn to be a bit more realistic.

maraming salamat.

MS

Battling for the right answers

Since the ascension of Robert Fico to the prime-minister's office, the opposition is somewhat weakly struggling to regain it's position. While in developed democratic states, parliament functions - and therefore the opposition included - as a control mechanism of the cabinet, this principle is in the case of Slovakia nothing but a utopian theory.

The reason why is a bit obscure, but in my view threefold; Firstly a lack of a long democratic parliamentarian tradition. A fact, which should not be underestimated. The rules of the game, at least in theory my be correct, the habit on how to put them into practice is apparently not that easy. And perhaps it is not totally fair to state, that if one has the (good)will the goal can be achieved, ergo a certain group seems not to be overly interested to improve these principles, while the general public has no defined expectation and thus accepts the present status quo.

Secondly, the largest opposition parties (i.e. the former coalition partners) seem totally off guard by the loss, that regaining a strong standing is far off. When observing the attempts of the current opposition to find an answer to the current state, I have a feeling that it is merely a rudderless vessel. Even to the extent, that some party programmes are merely an ad hoc collection of tactical ideas that have popped up during brainstorm sessions (there are exceptions of course). Here too, a certain tradition is lacking on how to effectively market your ideas, and some attempts are simply snowed under before they could have any impact at all. Too many missed chances (not addressed), too many weak arguments (addressed).

Thirdly, a detachment of the broad public with politics. Definitively a strong tradition from the totalitarian past. Politicians face the risk, of being a priori judged. Despite the fact that these taxpayers de facto sponsor the whole machinery, nobody feels his due right to compare the scores and act appropriately; during election. But this is not the only right. Here too, the third sector, including the think-tanks play a fairly marginal role even though it could greatly contribute in raising democratic awareness.

In fact, a fourth aspect arises, but it is connected to the previous; the abuse of the present government to fill this gap with their populist quasi soviet-styled trend to control even the media - and fairly effectively. A dangerous situation, which will have serious repercussions for many years to come. The weakened democracy has been put on non-active since 2006 and none of the players, those who should at least be vocal about it, has found a way out. It's a grave battle for the right answers. If only the adequate questions would have been asked first. Not once; all the time, over and over again.

MS

Politics as a pension fund

Long debates can be held about the elementary function and nature true politics. Either by applying the definitions of the ancient Greeks or the more enlightened approach of authors like Montesquieu, Rousseau, Jefferson, or the like, the core of the whole idea of politics is about a group making a collective decision - but note: not exclusively to be applied to governments alone. Meantime, keep the word "collective decision" in the back of your mind for a while.

Politicians, and especially those, who are in charge of running the state, are there by the sole virtue of the mandate, which they received from the public; not excluding those, who didn't vote for them directly. A governing party may have received perhaps the majority of votes, perhaps forming a coalition to gain a majority, yet the electorate as a whole is part of the public as well.

While, generally speaking, the aforementioned situation applies to regular modern democracies, and we regard the European Union to be like that, Slovakia has concocted an own distinct flavour of how government and politics in general should be functioning. The excesses in government have made me monitor the developments more closely and even with a strong stomach and nerves, one cannot stop wearily shaking one's head.

In order to fluff up Slovakia for becoming a NATO, EU, Schengen and Euro-zone member, after some dark years following the independence, the Dzurinda government has pulled the cart out of the mud (dirty mud!), and reforms - though sometimes not always extremely popular - were introduced to give the cart a direction.

The pain was worth it, as economically and legislatively the minimal requirements were met to enter the earlier mentioned institutions and unions, having brought Slovakia a huge advantage.

In 2006 came the turning point, as the elections were won by an opposition party, portraying itself as a modern, open, honest, progressive social democratic movement, but forming a coalition with the very same crook, who damaged Slovakia during the 1993-1998 years plus a nationalistic drunkard.

Unlike the glorifying evaluation of the 2006-2010 government by the prime minister himself, I can only sadly conclude, that this government has exceeded all the limits possible of destroying the state; a puppet-president, embezzlements of billions of Euros, dodgy tenders, stealing of Eurofunds, intimidating of judges and tightly controlling the judicial system, politicising the police force and labour unions, obstructing justice, curbing the freedom of press, and more. Up to the point, that apparently both the FBI and the Swiss services are beginning to point at dangerous connections close to the political top in the case of the emission quote scandal.

Fico is - like his examples from Soviet times - refusing to answer any questions.  And the minimal justifications given are too ridiculous to be even remotely probable. It is difficult to make a homo sovieticus realise that the press - or the public - has the right to know; he is there for the people and not the other way around. The unravelling of some scandals is becoming dangerously close, and I wonder how much time still is needed, to make the curtain finally fall for this gang. 

Fico has cleverly (and knowingly) constructed things around him, in any case, he bears ex officio the political responsibility. Clearly, the concept of making a collective decision (as elicited in the introduction) is not exactly what these people had in mind - while accumulating large funds to fill somebody's pockets shows only, that for them politics is merely a pension fund; to make sure they can live happily ever after. But criminals usually do make a mistake somewhere, and such a mistake is fatal.

When following discussions on the social networks, I sense that several thousands of people are fairly aware of this, yet little is happening. A wasted chance. If I imagined this government in a Scandinavian, British, Dutch or perhaps German setting, among others, I bet that the age old tradition of defenestration would be applied without mercy and without any unnecessary delay. But perhaps it is like a volcano: the longer the pressure builds up, the more severe the explosion will be. Prime-minister Fico: Take heed!

MS

Impertinent Fico

Today a press conference was called - looks as if prime minister Fico would announce that the whole millions of Euro draining Interblue emissions scandal will be finally unravelled, or that extraterrestrials have landed in Slovakia. The seriousness must be unsurpassed.

Mr Fico, at a level of a 10 year old schoolboy, giving a class-presentation on colourful autumn leaves, holds up a printout of two pictures - one a picture of the SDKU-DS election campaign billboard with leader Iveta Radičová and one picture from a meeting of the Czech and Moravian Communist Party. The bottom-line was, that Ms Radičová is, according to schoolboy Fico, committing plagiarism by using the same slogan (but in Slovak of course) as the mentioned communist party. A matter of highest priority to the prime minister and "unheard of" in today's politics.

Schoolboy Fico, forgot to do his homework thoroughly, as the slogan used on the billboard was in fact the title of a publication Ms Radičová herself (published in 1995). A fact, which fully entitles Ms Radičová using the slogan, and which is irrelevant that the CMCP uses it nowadays as well. In school Robbie Fico would get some feedback and he would be sulking for the rest of the day.

The reality is, that Mr Fico is the prime minister. The sad reality is that the prime minister is using his government office, to rant about party campaign matters, which have no place there. The strange reality is, that when asked about current scandals - the social inclusion projects of his party minister Tomanová, EU-funds which are cut off because of serious doubts, outright tunnelling and nepotism, the prime minister does not have even the decency to answer the journalists - evading the questions by either insulting, hammering on vague accusations at the address of the opposition, while his scandals are of a much graver nature, or his arrogant pedantic remarks that this press conference is about a different issue.

The whole issue about Mr Fico is, that he is not capable of bearing his political responsibility; while the questions asked are relevant enough as they address current political relevancy (at least of higher relevancy that falsely alleged plagiarism of Ms Radičová billboards), he never answers them. Not so much for an individual journalist, but de facto the public has a right to know about them. 

In Soviet-controlled times, leaders of the politburo also never answered critical questions on the truths behind their happy proletariat paradise, and Fico is behaving in the same fashion. If Fico feels a psychological need to revive Soviet totalitarianism, he may do so - monitored by doctors. Not as being a political leader - a prime minister - of an EU country. It undermines not his political capability, it undermines not only democratic principles, it undermines even the Slovak Constitution. Fico is playing an arrogant game, and the bottom line is; making fun of Slovakia's citizens. It is the face of a complexed little boy, who cannot stand the big world around him. In my view, Fico has shown ultimate impertinence and there is only one possible answer to that...

MS

Tunnelling à la SMER - a Neverending Story

The European Union has - rightly in my view - worked out programmes in order to financially support projects for those, who lack either training or experience to give them the necessary stepping stones to return back into the ranks of the employed. Creating a This is not exclusively a project for some poor countries, as these projects are equally existent in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and the like. These so-called Employment and Social Inclusion Programmes, in order to be eligible to European funding, 

As Mr Fico's rhetoric frequently has indicated, that his SMER party is dedicated to creating a social state. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to add that Fico's behaviour leans heavily towards creating a pre-1989 socialist state. In any case, objectively speaking: the official state policy is to support the less fortunate in society and the unemployed. Providing an opportunity to learn a new skill, to be economically active (in a group) has advantages over staying at home unemployed, and do also to a certain degree contribute to raise the self-awareness of people.

The Ministry of Labour Social Affairs and Family Matters under minister Mrs Viera Tomanová is responsible for the portfolio of these projects and both Mrs Tomanová as well as prime-minister Fico repeatedly fence with their social programmes to shout down the critical question in all the other current huge financial scandals. While some signals already came from Brussels, that Mrs Tomanová's pilot-projects would not meet legal standards and apparently the financing from Europe will be halted even to be returned. Not just another embarrassing disclosure. Mrs Tomanová never gave any factual information, even denied such allegations and lately highly irritated requested the journalists not to ask about untrue information or write lies.

The opposite however surfaced, as the full findings of the Audit Report on the said projects was presented yesterday. Admittedly, I expected a slightly higher interest on the matter, but I found myself sitting with 5 journalists at the presentation given by Miroslav Beblavý, which surprised me a bit.

The findings have some interesting conclusions; While in June 2009 the Ministry of Labour was informed of, among others, "worrying findings on the level of personnel costs, duplication of expenditures, assessment of state aid. By the time of the audit fieldwork (November 2009) these significant and urgent issues had not yet been addressed.", as well as "Unlawful State Aid risks distorting the market" and more specifically "The presence of indicators of serious fraud was identified...". Furthermore, a directors are commercially interconnected, etc.

I shall not bother you with technical details and the consequences. But clear is, that the critical approach to Mr Fico's government is not a mere baiting of press, opposition or the third sector. The amounts involved for these projects could have been adequately applied if properly managed for those, who are needing them. Those for whom the projects are intended. This way, only the political-interconnection has clearly richly profited, while the projects are stopped the support for employment and social inclusion has been just an cover up without any effect to the employees. How much longer does Tomanová and Fico need to further deny these murky businesses? As expected one of the first arguments will surely be "the EC is not an impartial, so the conclusions are not objective". A tunnel is always a tunnel. Wondering how Robber Fico will plea. (Please note, there is no typo-error in the prime-minister's name).

MS

Poor diplomacy

Not only is there some concern regarding transparent behaviour of Slovak's present government - not only a matter for Slovak citizens exclusively, but even internationally, at least at an EU level - but Slovak diplomacy is an area, which intensively would need some closer attention.

Slovakia, as a new nation, coming forth from the ancient Austro-Hungarian Empire, specially the Hungarian part, has until now not been able to clarify its past and present coexistence with its neighbour. When looking at the matter through the eyes of an historian, certain resentments could be traced back in time and explained. Yet, why a modern nation is not able to find a civil way to set aside predominantly childish nationalistic sentiments is a bit of a mystery.

While in 1945 post war Europe, French and German politicians (equally the people) finally burried their centuries' old animosity and turned into the strongest catalyst for the formation of the present-day European Union, Slovak government seem to take pleasure in seeing every statement of a Hungarian politician as a direct attack against Slovakia. 

Hungary's president László Sólyom, during his visit to neighbouring Serbia indicated, that Hungarian minorities (in all neighbouring countries that is) should learn the local language as a second language, a statement, which immediately caused a rather hysteric media campaign by our comrade prime minister Mr Fico, protesting that it was undermining the integrity and statehood of the Slovak Republic. 

The truth in fact is far off. A fact is, that Hungarian minorities, whether in Serbia, Romania or Slovakia speak Hungarian as their first 'mother-tongue'. Personnaly, I find it understandable. When the small kids enter school, the local (official) language is apparently taught from the same books as the local children use. One will have a handicap, that one does exercises without having a proper basis, which should be solved when approaching it as a 'second language'; systematically starting from zero. In my view, a pragmatic and more effective pedagogical opinion. 

But, even despite the fact, that some voices have appeared in the Slovak media, that this is in fact the case already (at least in Slovakia), the over sensitive ranting by Fico is even the more absurd. Interestingly enough, at the same time, the Minister of Education has started press conferences addressing this issue, announcing changes (eh, I thought it was an attack on Slovakia's sovereignty, so why listening to them?). Confusing signals I would say. 

But the bottom-line of it all is, why are international communications with government leaders not taken care of by the diplomatic corps instead of televising hysteric press conferences? Mr Fico appears rather as an unsuccessful boulevard-press moderator or a political agitator from the 1930s, than a grown up statesman. Poor diplomacy leads to poor international relations [sic]. Fico is obviously becoming a boring poor comedian. 

MS

Human Rights in Slovakia - a hypocrite society

My breakfast coffee had a strange taste this morning as I read a disturbing article: The bottom line was this, that citizens do not only initiate petition-campaigns against hazardous garbage fills or oil pipelines. In the case of the East-Slovak town of Veľký Šariš, citizens have started a petition as a protest. Namely, four houses are being build in a residential area. The reason why they are against, is that it was found out that these houses are intended for handicapped children. The mere fact that among these children a certain percentage is of Romany origin is an additional reason for the protests.

Dumping children with a certain handicap into run-down and fully unsuitable buildings seems still to be the norm. But with all respect - and perhaps my opinion this time will be very harsh: a society, which is constantly hammering on religious catholic values/traditions, pro-life anti-abortion campaigns simultaneously pushing aside innocent children, be it because they do not fit the norm or their skin colour, has to say it still in a diplomatic way not much of my respect. 

This alarming case is definitely not unique in its kind; apparently in other municipalities recent and similar petitions have been successful or even cost the mayor's head. The reality is indeed very sad. Society not only does not understand civic principles of a democratic society, even civil principles, where it only based on their so-called Christian tradition, is barely to be found. I have honestly no words for such behaviour. Still much educating lies ahead.

MS

My breakfast coffee had a strange taste this morning as I read a disturbing article: The bottom line was this, that citizens do not only initiate petition-campaigns against hazardous garbage fills or oil pipelines. In the case of the East-Slovak town Veľký Šariš, citizens have started a petition as a protest. Four houses are being build in a residence area. The reason why they are against, is that it was found out that these houses are intended for handicapped children. The mere fact that among these children a certain percentage is of Romany origin is an additional reason for the protests. Dumping children with a certain handicap into run-down and fully unsuitable buildings seems still to be the norm. But with all respect - and perhaps my opinion this time will be very harsh: a society, which is constantly hammering on religious catholic values/traditions, pro-life anti-abortion campaigns simultaneously pushing aside innocent children, be it because they do not fit the norm or their skin colour, has to say it still in a diplomatic way not much of my respect. This alarming case is definitely not unique in its kind; apparently in other municipalities recent and similar petitions have been successful or even cost the mayor's head. The reality is indeed very sad. Society not only does not understand civic principles of a democratic society, even civil principles, where it only based on their so-called Christian tradition, is barely to be found. I have honestly no words for such behaviour. Still much educating lies ahead. MS

My breakfast coffee had a strange taste this morning as I read a disturbing article: The bottom line was this, that citizens do not only initiate petition-campaigns against hazardous garbage fills or oil pipelines. In the case of the East-Slovak town Veľký Šariš, citizens have started a petition as a protest. Four houses are being build in a residence area. The reason why they are against, is that it was found out that these houses are intended for handicapped children. The mere fact that among these children a certain percentage is of Romany origin is an additional reason for the protests. Dumping children with a certain handicap into run-down and fully unsuitable buildings seems still to be the norm. But with all respect - and perhaps my opinion this time will be very harsh: a society, which is constantly hammering on religious catholic values/traditions, pro-life anti-abortion campaigns simultaneously pushing aside innocent children, be it because they do not fit the norm or their skin colour, has to say it still in a diplomatic way not much of my respect. This alarming case is definitely not unique in its kind; apparently in other municipalities recent and similar petitions have been successful or even cost the mayor's head. The reality is indeed very sad. Society not only does not understand civic principles of a democratic society, even civil principles, where it only based on their so-called Christian tradition, is barely to be found. I have honestly no words for such behaviour. Still much educating lies ahead. MS

Freedom and basic democratic principles

A few months ago, in fact on 17 November as a spin off from the Velvet Revolution 20th anniversary, a group of young students (so I got the impression) started a website called "zdruhejstrany" ["From the other side"], in order to publish articles by students in order to provide a picture of "how young people thought. Where one could find analyses, comments, interviews and articles on interesting subjects". An attempt to be applauded. Equally, a Facebook fan-page was created.

Our yesterday's last activity was to attend a discussion at a prominent quality bookstore Artforum a discussion session on the subject "Enough silence". A group of intellectuals reflected on the current trends within society, historical backgrounds and pointed out some issues. Crammed in a narrow bookstore, we all stood there listening, and it one could watch a mixed crowd in the audience of all generations represented. One continuous warning was ignorance and/or indifference, which could create dangerous thoughts to lure within society. Except for one question from the audience and a person, obviously a bit less content with life murmuring disturbingly at the back of the crowd (but not to address the panel when having the chance).

Just before signing off for the day, my better half brought to my attention an article. Initially I was slightly too exhausted to completely absorb the gist of it, but slowly an alarm-bell started to sound.To make sure, I was not misreading the said article, I read it three times and browsed over other articles as well. Suddenly, jawbone was about to drop.

Especially two authors posted - in my view - fairly dubious articles. The mere fact that in one article the foundation of the cleric-fascist state in 1939 appeared especially around the 14th March is fairly expectable. But to write - similarly as in I mentioned in one of my previous blog-posts - that given the bad and the good side of the coin, we must be more "objective" about this historic fact. Objective in the sense, that it was the lesser evil? That after all, it was good that it happened??? 

Another article referred to the fact how Slovaks were entitled to have complexes, since the Jews, who according to the author, also constantly refer to the holocaust, so Slovaks should be able to point at the century long magyarisation. The same author in another article also labelled citizens, who went into the streets to air their concern against neo-fascist tendencies, as being extremists (not the first time that day). Apparently the responsible citizens were hampering the freedom of others, while fascism was to be accepted in a democracy.

In all honesty, my adrenaline level was at production speed. Analysing the rise of extremism whether in the 1930s or nowadays is a good thing in order to put things into perspective. However, proclaiming that holocaust collaboration (and not merely pro forma, also very actively as well) or agitating with fascist ideologies being OK, has nothing to do with freedom of speech and should never become acceptable. It is exactly the very same historical ignorance, which leads young people to simply accept such thoughts; perhaps assuming, since they are different from a certain mainstream, they must therefore be better. You name it. This small collective has hardly understood what democratic principles are. 

After 20 years - from the very same Velvet Revolution, which was symbolic to these students - the only observations I can get, is that freedom apparently means to acquire material wealth within the shortest time (including at the expense of others) and to spread dangerous extremist ideas. These people (rough estimated) were born around the Velvet Revolution and do not remember totalitarianism themselves, but equally, do obviously not have the intellectual capacity to fathom the memory of it. It is typical for today's state of society.

When attending yesterday's discussion - as well as the demonstrations in the street (so  apparently I am an extremist myself!), I was still glad, that a small group of people still care about certain values and do not belong to main-stream. Albeit, that this group is alarmingly small, it should therefore be clear that each of us must actively work hard to break through this circle. 

It must be understood, that supporting any totalitarian ideology (and whether fascist or communist, the bottom line is fairly the same), hatred against others or the like is not acceptable. Finding historical or sociological answers why it occurred is one thing - endorsing it, be it even partially,  is an absolute no-go. Comparing how Slovaks suffered with the Jewish fate during the holocaust is to say simply disgusting!

MS

Just before signing off

Just before signing off

A few months ago, in fact on 17 November as a spin off from the Velvet Revolution 20th anniversary, a group of young students (so I got the impression) started a website called "From the other side", in order to publish articles by students in order to provide a picture of "how young people thought. Where one could find analyses, comments, interviews and articles on interesting subjects". An attempt to be applauded. Equally a Facebook fan-page was created. Our yesterday's last activity was to attend a discussion at a prominent bookstore Artforum a discussion session on the subject "Enough silence". A group of intellectuals reflected on the current trends within society, historical backgrounds and pointed out some issues. Crammed in a narrow bookstore, we all stood there listening, and it one could watch a mixed crowd in the audience of all generations represented. One continuous warning was ignorance and/or indifference, which could create dangerous thoughts to lure within society. Except for one question from the audience and a person, obviously a bit less content with life murmuring disturbingly at the back of the crowd (but not to address the panel when having the chance). Just before signing off for the day, my better half brought to my attention an article. Initially I was slightly too exhausted to completely absorb the gist of it, but slowly an alarm-bell started to sound.To make sure, I was not misreading the said article, I read it three times and browsed over other articles as well. Suddenly, jawbone was about to drop. Especially two authors posted - in my view - fairly dubious articles. The mere fact that in one article the foundation of the cleric-fascist state in 1939 appeared especially around the 14th March is fairly expectable. But to write - similarly as in I mentioned in one of my previous blog-posts - that given the bad and the good side of the coin, we must be more "objective" about this historic fact. Objective in the sense, that it was the lesser evil? That after all, it was good that it happened??? Another article referred to the fact how Slovaks were entitled to have complexes, since the Jews, who according to the author, also constantly refer to the holocaust, so Slovaks should be able to point at the century long magyarisation. The same author in another article also labelled citizens, who went into the streets to air their concern against neo-fascist tendencies, as being extremists (not the first time that day). Apparently the responsible citizens were hampering the freedom of others, while fascism was to be accepted in a democracy. In all honesty, my adrenaline level was at production speed. Analysing the rise of extremism whether in the 1930s or nowadays is a good thing in order to put things into perspective. However, proclaiming that holocaust collaboration (and not merely pro forma, also very actively as well) or agitating with fascist ideologies being OK, has nothing to do with freedom of speech and should never become acceptable. It is exactly the very same historical ignorance, which leads young people to simply accept such thoughts; perhaps assuming, since they are different from a certain mainstream, they must therefore be better. You name it. This small collective has hardly understood what democratic principles are. After 20 years - from the very same Velvet Revolution, which was symbolic to these students - the only observations I can get, is that freedom apparently means to acquire material wealth within the shortest time (including at the expense of others) and to spread dangerous extremist ideas. These people (rough estimated) were born around the Velvet Revolution and do not remember totalitarianism themselves, but equally, do obviously not have the intellectual capacity to fathom the memory of it. It is typical for today's state of society. When attending yesterday's discussion - as well as the demonstrations in the street (so I am an extremist myself), I was still glad, that a small group of people still care about certain values and do not belong to main-stream. Albeit, that this group is alarmingly small, it should therefore be clear that each of us must actively work hard to break through this circle. It must be understood, that supporting any totalitarian ideology (and whether fascist or communist, the bottom line is fairly the same), hatred against others or the like is not acceptable. Finding historical or sociological answers why it occurred is another thing - endorsing it is a no-go. Comparing how Slovaks suffered with the Jewish fate during the holocaust is to say simply disgusting! MS Just before signing off Just before signing off

A few months ago, in fact on 17 November as a spin off from the Velvet Revolution 20th anniversary, a group of young students (so I got the impression) started a website called "From the other side", in order to publish articles by students in order to provide a picture of "how young people thought. Where one could find analyses, comments, interviews and articles on interesting subjects". An attempt to be applauded. Equally a Facebook fan-page was created. Our yesterday's last activity was to attend a discussion at a prominent bookstore Artforum a discussion session on the subject "Enough silence". A group of intellectuals reflected on the current trends within society, historical backgrounds and pointed out some issues. Crammed in a narrow bookstore, we all stood there listening, and it one could watch a mixed crowd in the audience of all generations represented. One continuous warning was ignorance and/or indifference, which could create dangerous thoughts to lure within society. Except for one question from the audience and a person, obviously a bit less content with life murmuring disturbingly at the back of the crowd (but not to address the panel when having the chance). Just before signing off for the day, my better half brought to my attention an article. Initially I was slightly too exhausted to completely absorb the gist of it, but slowly an alarm-bell started to sound.To make sure, I was not misreading the said article, I read it three times and browsed over other articles as well. Suddenly, jawbone was about to drop. Especially two authors posted - in my view - fairly dubious articles. The mere fact that in one article the foundation of the cleric-fascist state in 1939 appeared especially around the 14th March is fairly expectable. But to write - similarly as in I mentioned in one of my previous blog-posts - that given the bad and the good side of the coin, we must be more "objective" about this historic fact. Objective in the sense, that it was the lesser evil? That after all, it was good that it happened??? Another article referred to the fact how Slovaks were entitled to have complexes, since the Jews, who according to the author, also constantly refer to the holocaust, so Slovaks should be able to point at the century long magyarisation. The same author in another article also labelled citizens, who went into the streets to air their concern against neo-fascist tendencies, as being extremists (not the first time that day). Apparently the responsible citizens were hampering the freedom of others, while fascism was to be accepted in a democracy. In all honesty, my adrenaline level was at production speed. Analysing the rise of extremism whether in the 1930s or nowadays is a good thing in order to put things into perspective. However, proclaiming that holocaust collaboration (and not merely pro forma, also very actively as well) or agitating with fascist ideologies being OK, has nothing to do with freedom of speech and should never become acceptable. It is exactly the very same historical ignorance, which leads young people to simply accept such thoughts; perhaps assuming, since they are different from a certain mainstream, they must therefore be better. You name it. This small collective has hardly understood what democratic principles are. After 20 years - from the very same Velvet Revolution, which was symbolic to these students - the only observations I can get, is that freedom apparently means to acquire material wealth within the shortest time (including at the expense of others) and to spread dangerous extremist ideas. These people (rough estimated) were born around the Velvet Revolution and do not remember totalitarianism themselves, but equally, do obviously not have the intellectual capacity to fathom the memory of it. It is typical for today's state of society. When attending yesterday's discussion - as well as the demonstrations in the street (so I am an extremist myself), I was still glad, that a small group of people still care about certain values and do not belong to main-stream. Albeit, that this group is alarmingly small, it should therefore be clear that each of us must actively work hard to break through this circle. It must be understood, that supporting any totalitarian ideology (and whether fascist or communist, the bottom line is fairly the same), hatred against others or the like is not acceptable. Finding historical or sociological answers why it occurred is another thing - endorsing it is a no-go. Comparing how Slovaks suffered with the Jewish fate during the holocaust is to say simply disgusting! MS Just before signing off Just before signing off

Who is scared of the news?

While Slovakia suffers an unacceptable high rate of corruption - according to the World Economic Forum, the rating has plummeted from place 76 to 126 during Fico's government - while during the previous government the rating was place 44 (in 2003). This obviously is going to reflect somewhere in the economic dynamism of the country. Ranking 126, whether we like it or not, is not to be underestimated. Therefore, externally involved stakeholders - like the American Chamber of Commerce has taken the initiative with entrepreneurs to step in. But not just in Slovakia alone, equally the neighbouring Czech Republic has gotten the same honour.

Today's Sunday's political discussion programmes on the Czech TV extensively aired discussions, including the Executive Director the said Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic Mr Weston Stacey, as well as top managers of the Czech Chamber of Commerce and Transparency International. The opposite is the case in Slovakia. Although - so far what we managed to find - one article appeared in the economic newspaper hnonline.sk, not one minute of media coverage could be found on the television nor the radio. Why?

While attending anti-fascism demonstrations, this afternoon, the situation was such, that a neo-fascist movement would march before the Presidential Palace on the very day when 71 years ago the cleric-fascist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso was proclaimed. A couple hundreds of democratic minded citizens would demonstrate against this. A reporter of the non-stop news network TA3 commented in front of the camera, that the police separated two extremist groups. In my view, a reporter, who apparently has no other label for a democratic oriented group of citizens, who stand up against freedom-deprivation and intolerance ,as being 'extremists' should seriously reconsider his job and hand in his badge. To my great relief, this was not broadcast on TV as such, yet the mere fact, that he committed this gross faux pas is however grave enough.

What remains enigmatic is why this continuous disfiguring of facts, providing half truths or even ignoring it. Are they indeed so servile to the powers from above, that anything that could damage the image is nervously muffled away? Today was a sad day, which should have been dedicated to commemorate especially the victims of Mr Tiso terror. And while we met some friends in the streets of Bratislava, the whole matter is not giving me a good feeling after all.

MS

While Slovakia suffers an unacceptable high rate of corruption - according to the World Economic Forum, the rating has plummeted from place 76 to 126 during Fico's government - while during the previous government the rating was place 44 (in 2003). This obviously is going to reflect somewhere in the economic dynamism of the country. Ranking 128 is not to be underestimated. Therefore, externally involved stakeholders - like the American Chamber of Commerce has taken the initiative with entrepreneurs to step in. But not just in Slovakia alone, equally the neighbouring Czech Republic has gotten the same honour. Today's Sunday's political discussion programmes on the Czech TV extensively aired discussions, including the Executive Director the said Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic Mr Weston Stacey, as well as top managers of the Czech Chamber of Commerce and Transparency International. The opposite is the case in Slovakia. Although - so far what we managed to find - one article appeared in the economic newspaper hnonline.sk, not one minute of media coverage could be found on the television nor the radio. Why? While attending anti-fascism demonstrations, this afternoon, the situation was such, that a neo-fascist movement would march before the Presidential Palace on the very day when 71 years ago the cleric-fascist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso was proclaimed. A couple hundreds of democratic minded citizens would demonstrate against this. The a reporter of the non-stop news network TA3 commented in front of the camera, that the police separated two extremist groups. In my view, a reporter, who apparently has no other label for a democratic loving group of citizens, who stand up for freedom and tolerance as being 'extremistst' should resign at his own request, at least. To my great relief, this was not broadcast on TV as such. The mere fact, that he committed this faux pas is however grave enough. What remains enigmatic is why this continuous disfiguring of facts, providing half truths or even ignoring it. Are they indeed so servile to the powers from above, that anything that could damage the image is nervously muffled away? Today was a sad day, to commemorate especially the victims of Mr Tiso terror. And while we met some protest friends in the streets of Bratislava, the whole matter is not giving me a good feeling after all. MS

While Slovakia suffers an unacceptable high rate of corruption - according to the World Economic Forum, the rating has plummeted from place 76 to 126 during Fico's government - while during the previous government the rating was place 44 (in 2003). This obviously is going to reflect somewhere in the economic dynamism of the country. Ranking 128 is not to be underestimated. Therefore, externally involved stakeholders - like the American Chamber of Commerce has taken the initiative with entrepreneurs to step in. But not just in Slovakia alone, equally the neighbouring Czech Republic has gotten the same honour. Today's Sunday's political discussion programmes on the Czech TV extensively aired discussions, including the Executive Director the said Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic Mr Weston Stacey, as well as top managers of the Czech Chamber of Commerce and Transparency International. The opposite is the case in Slovakia. Although - so far what we managed to find - one article appeared in the economic newspaper hnonline.sk, not one minute of media coverage could be found on the television nor the radio. Why? While attending anti-fascism demonstrations, this afternoon, the situation was such, that a neo-fascist movement would march before the Presidential Palace on the very day when 71 years ago the cleric-fascist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso was proclaimed. A couple hundreds of democratic minded citizens would demonstrate against this. The a reporter of the non-stop news network TA3 commented in front of the camera, that the police separated two extremist groups. In my view, a reporter, who apparently has no other label for a democratic loving group of citizens, who stand up for freedom and tolerance as being 'extremistst' should resign at his own request, at least. To my great relief, this was not broadcast on TV as such. The mere fact, that he committed this faux pas is however grave enough. What remains enigmatic is why this continuous disfiguring of facts, providing half truths or even ignoring it. Are they indeed so servile to the powers from above, that anything that could damage the image is nervously muffled away? Today was a sad day, to commemorate especially the victims of Mr Tiso terror. And while we met some protest friends in the streets of Bratislava, the whole matter is not giving me a good feeling after all. MS

A dark legacy

Today, 14 March, is a day, which is in Slovakia's history - or Czecho-Slovak if you will - a black stain. On this day, in 1939, Tiso declared an independent Slovak State; independent from Prague yet closely controlled under Hitler's Third Reich. A statehood, that is stained with war, confiscation of property, deportations to gas-chambers, where not all Slovaks were merely 'passive onlookers".

When putting historical events into their proper perspective, a nation would regard this as a lesson and a warning for present and future generations. Unfortunately, collective memory is profoundly weak. Nationalist, even extremist non-democratic thinking and behaviour is (again) a mainstream in Slovak life, where eerie rhetoric in the media is almost a daily occurrence. 

In a prominent Slovak quality newspaper SME, an article appeared this morning to highlight the parallels between the earlier mentioned days of 1939 and 1993, when Slovakia became an independent country once again, this time after the democratisation of the post-communist era. A strange feeling befell me. Let's be clear, it is not the mere fact, that a historical analysis appears in the newspaper. To the contrary. It was actually a specific sentence, which caught my attention giving me an uneasy feeling: 

The First Slovak Republic had many mistakes [...]

On the other hand, it was able to create its own government, supported culture and offered its citizens a fairly decent standard of living, given the wartime circumstances

Maybe I am mistaken, but it is almost giving an impression, that the cleric-fascist government had therefore a certain justification after all. Personally, if written "Although in the one hand it was able to create its own government [...], the First Slovak Republic had many mistakes [...]", it would give it a slightly different meaning, and a more accurate assessment (although this is perhaps only my subjective perception).

Despite being originally Czech, I do have full understanding for the group of Slovaks having the feeling that cutting off ties with Prague was a good thing (justifiably or not). The value of the First Czechoslovak Republic to Slovakia should not be completely disregarded, but neither be mythologised. For the rest, the newspaper article gives interesting insights as well.

What disturbs me, is that necessary proper formulations - giving the meaning a totally different twist - essential in argumentation, are not the strongest skills of Slovak society. Yesterday, on Facebook, a young lad complained about the publication of the US State Department's Human Rights Report on Slovakia. He provided a link to a documentary produced by the Czech Television on Kosovo, with a dramatic exclamation that it was censored and never aired. When I slightly reminded, that it was not correct because it was televised by the Czechs in 2008, immediately I received spam-messages from an other overly active person, to point out to a Wikipedia entry on the said documentary. Apparently, I stepped on a sore nerve, even if in no way did I give any assessment on the Kosovo film. The web-page containing this film was in my eyes more than dubious. But coming back to the formulation matter; this is exactly a visible deficiency in political discussion programmes, where factual arguments are almost non-existent and the only arguments that make the proper impact are mere insults.

Such rhetoric is pretty common, especially when readers take incomplete information for a full truth - attacking an argument, while hardly understanding what exactly is being said. A prominent Slovak holocaust survivor and human rights activist Fedor Gál mentioned in an interview that within us there is this devil causing us to turn within one day from a friend into a beast. Lacking a proper skill to absorb clear and objective information (to simplify it a bit) is not just an explanation why people in Slovakia still do not have a mature democracy, it is also a warning that the beast is very latent. The mere fact, that even the former archbishop Sokol was paying a tribute to the fascist Tiso, is illustrative enough of the whole situation.

Authors, media but also politicians, especially those who mean well, should be aware of their task to educate the masses in becoming more critical citizens - not to be a bunch of meek sheep following populist or even crypto-fascist messages. As we see what goes on in politics nowadays, I am not without sincere concern. The dangerous legacy is prevalent, and it's a dark legacy.

Today, to commemorate the fatal 1939-1945 Slovak State, nationalists will openly pay tribute to this hideous fact. A thought that makes one sick. Three civic movements will appear as well to express their disgust. The police has labelled it as 'most problematic' and requested the anti-fascist group to chose another time or place. Understandably, the only obvious answer to that should be clear enough...

MS

Today, 14 March, is a day, which is in Slovakia's history - or Czecho-Slovak if you will - a black stain. On this day, in 1939, Tiso declared an independent Slovak State; independent from Prague yet closely controlled under Hitler's Third Reich. A statehood, that is stained with war, confiscation of property, deportations to gas-chambers, where not all Slovaks were merely 'passive onlookers". When putting historical events into their proper perspective, a nation would regard this as a lesson and a warning for present and future generations. Unfortunately, collective memory is profoundly weak. Nationalist, even extremist non-democratic thinking and behaviour is (again) a mainstream in Slovak life, where eerie rhetoric in the media is almost a daily occurrence. In a prominent Slovak quality newspaper SME, a strange article appeared to highlight the parallels between the earlier mentioned days of 1939 and 1993, when Slovakia became an independent country once again, this time after the democratisation of the post-communist era. Let's be clear, it is not the mere fact, that a historical analysis appears in the newspaper. To the contrary. It was actually a specific sentence, which caught my attention giving me an uneasy feeling: The First Slovak Republic had many mistakes [...] On the other hand, it was able to create its own government, supported culture and offered its citizens a fairly decent standard of living, given the wartime circumstances Maybe I am mistaken, but it is almost giving an impression, that the cleric-fascist government had therefore a certain justification after all. Personally, if written "Although in the one hand it was able to create its own government [...], the First Slovak Republic had many mistakes [...]", it would give it a slightly different meaning. Although being originally Czech, I do have full understanding for Slovaks having the feeling that cutting off ties with Prague was a good thing (justifiably or not). The value of the First Czechoslovak Republic to Slovakia should not be completely disregarded, but neither be mythologised. For the rest, the newspaper article gives interesting insights as well. What disturbs me, is that necessary proper formulations - giving the meaning a totally different twist - essential in argumentation, are not the strongest skills of Slovak society. Yesterday, on Facebook, a young lad complained about the publication of the US State Department's Human Rights Report on Slovakia. He provided a link to a documentary produced by the Czech Television on Kosovo, with a dramatic exclamation that it was censored and never aired. When I slightly reminded, that it was not correct because it was televised by the Czechs in 2008, immediately I received spam-messages from an other overly active person, to point out to a Wikipedia entry on the said documentary. Apparently, I stepped on a sore nerve, even if in no way did I give any assessment on the Kosovo film. The web-page containing this film was in my eyes more than dubious. Such rhetoric is pretty common, especially when readers take incomplete information for truth - attacking an argument, while hardly understanding what is being said. A prominent Slovak holocaust survivor and human rights activist Fedor Gál mentioned in an interview that within us there is this devil causing us to turn within one day from a friend into a beast. Lacking a proper skill to absorb clear information (to simplify it a bit) is not just an explanation why people in Slovakia still do not have a mature democracy, it is also a warning that the beast is very latent. Authors, media but also politicians, especially those who mean well, should be aware of their task to educate the masses in becoming critical citizens - not to be a bunch of meek sheep following populist or even crypto-fascist messages. As we see what goes on in politics nowadays, I am not without sincere concern. The dangerous legacy is prevalent, and it's a dark legacy. Today, to commemorate the fatal 1939-1945 Slovak State, nationalists will openly demonstrate to pay tribute to this fact. A thought that makes one sick. Three civic movements will appear as well to express their disgust. The police has labelled it as 'most problematic' and requested the anti-fascist group to chose another time or place. Understandably, the answer to that is clear. MS On the other hand On the other hand

Today, 14 March, is a day, which is in Slovakia's history - or Czecho-Slovak if you will - a black stain. On this day, in 1939, Tiso declared an independent Slovak State; independent from Prague yet closely controlled under Hitler's Third Reich. A statehood, that is stained with war, confiscation of property, deportations to gas-chambers, where not all Slovaks were merely 'passive onlookers". When putting historical events into their proper perspective, a nation would regard this as a lesson and a warning for present and future generations. Unfortunately, collective memory is profoundly weak. Nationalist, even extremist non-democratic thinking and behaviour is (again) a mainstream in Slovak life, where eerie rhetoric in the media is almost a daily occurrence. In a prominent Slovak quality newspaper SME, a strange article appeared to highlight the parallels between the earlier mentioned days of 1939 and 1993, when Slovakia became an independent country once again, this time after the democratisation of the post-communist era. Let's be clear, it is not the mere fact, that a historical analysis appears in the newspaper. To the contrary. It was actually a specific sentence, which caught my attention giving me an uneasy feeling: The First Slovak Republic had many mistakes [...] On the other hand, it was able to create its own government, supported culture and offered its citizens a fairly decent standard of living, given the wartime circumstances Maybe I am mistaken, but it is almost giving an impression, that the cleric-fascist government had therefore a certain justification after all. Personally, if written "Although in the one hand it was able to create its own government [...], the First Slovak Republic had many mistakes [...]", it would give it a slightly different meaning. Although being originally Czech, I do have full understanding for Slovaks having the feeling that cutting off ties with Prague was a good thing (justifiably or not). The value of the First Czechoslovak Republic to Slovakia should not be completely disregarded, but neither be mythologised. For the rest, the newspaper article gives interesting insights as well. What disturbs me, is that necessary proper formulations - giving the meaning a totally different twist - essential in argumentation, are not the strongest skills of Slovak society. Yesterday, on Facebook, a young lad complained about the publication of the US State Department's Human Rights Report on Slovakia. He provided a link to a documentary produced by the Czech Television on Kosovo, with a dramatic exclamation that it was censored and never aired. When I slightly reminded, that it was not correct because it was televised by the Czechs in 2008, immediately I received spam-messages from an other overly active person, to point out to a Wikipedia entry on the said documentary. Apparently, I stepped on a sore nerve, even if in no way did I give any assessment on the Kosovo film. The web-page containing this film was in my eyes more than dubious. Such rhetoric is pretty common, especially when readers take incomplete information for truth - attacking an argument, while hardly understanding what is being said. A prominent Slovak holocaust survivor and human rights activist Fedor Gál mentioned in an interview that within us there is this devil causing us to turn within one day from a friend into a beast. Lacking a proper skill to absorb clear information (to simplify it a bit) is not just an explanation why people in Slovakia still do not have a mature democracy, it is also a warning that the beast is very latent. Authors, media but also politicians, especially those who mean well, should be aware of their task to educate the masses in becoming critical citizens - not to be a bunch of meek sheep following populist or even crypto-fascist messages. As we see what goes on in politics nowadays, I am not without sincere concern. The dangerous legacy is prevalent, and it's a dark legacy. Today, to commemorate the fatal 1939-1945 Slovak State, nationalists will openly demonstrate to pay tribute to this fact. A thought that makes one sick. Three civic movements will appear as well to express their disgust. The police has labelled it as 'most problematic' and requested the anti-fascist group to chose another time or place. Understandably, the answer to that is clear. MS On the other hand On the other hand

Report on Slovakia

Report on Slovakia

Legislative flaws

Initiating, filing, discussing and finally passing a bill (law) is one of the tasks of a parliament among others. Anyone, whether a minister, or a parliament member - regardless whether belonging to the coalition or opposition, has the right of initiative, and this should be equally treated with a professional conscientiousness. Expertise of anyone (even specialists in the back offices) should ensure that all laws passed, would leave parliament in their best possible state. In countries where case law is current, the law will in due time be supplemented according to daily applicability if unexpected issues would occur that would in effect prove to be problematic due to international treaties (like the Human Rights' Charter, EU-legislation vis-à-vis national legislation and the like). Basically, coalition versus opposition should guarantee just laws.

Whether this concept is fully understood by all members within parliament - including their legal experts behind the scenes - is something that made me wonder in the last few weeks, as quite unhappy mishaps have occurred. Just to mention three recent examples:

Firstly, a bill came into effect, where - when applied according to the letter - single mothers would receive a monthly social benefit of over five thousand Euros. Mr Fico is priding himself for having the most-social government, but five thousand Euros is a bit over the top I reckon. Whether the formulation of certain passages has been done in a haste to meet a deadline or not, is irrelevant - texts of (new/amended) bills should carefully be studied, both by the initiator but especially by the opposition as well. Especially to catch unclarities or simple typo-errors, which could lead to absurd situations, like the one mentioned. None of the legal specialists ever took a calculator and figured out what the amendment contained. So why did this happen in the first place?

Secondly, the recent Patriotic Act, which caused a lot of dismay not only within Slovakia - only to be supported by some extremist fanatics - but also abroad, labelling Slovakia with North-Korean tendencies. A parallel, which is not too far fetched in my view. The absurdity of this law, has caused most opposition members not to participate in its voting. Why? The result was, that - despite its ludicrous principle - the bill made it with an astonishing majority through parliament, up to he point that even the initiator, the nationalist SNS members were overwhelmed with surprise. Nationalism is a dangerous yet effective tool to foul-mouth your opponent. Was it because of this, that hardly any opposition member dared to vote against? The electorate is fairly sensitive to such signals (even though absurd) and I must admit that even I am often shocked by the level of blind patriotic 19th-century style rhetoric among voters. Nevertheless, ignoring or willingly abstaining from voting this law, is a huge faux-pas. Now, when shedding bitter crocodile tears opposition should be aware of bearing the blame as well. 

The third example is of a bit more serious nature: On 9 March, the ruling party rushed a bill through parliament, dealing with information access regarding nuclear power plants. A few days earlier, the European Commission warned Slovakia that it fell short in respecting public interest in their PPP-projects, threatening to cut off EU funds. The issue was that public had hardly time to find out or respond to state-directed projects. The cabinet took it as a triviality and after modifying some legislation everything was back to business. Not so; on Tuesday the said bill would restrict public (or legal experts) to gain information access. A restriction that was even worse than the mentioned PPP-related issue. 

What was even more ironic - not only slipped it through the attention of the opposition, but the news came not from the Slovak media. Despite my continuous RSS feeds, where get all updates within a few seconds the moment they appear in the major newspapers/servers, it was a live broadcast by Olga Baková on the Czech network CT24 (which I happened to watch that moment by coincidence), that broke the news. For a while, according to Google, Slovak servers had no entry on that one. 

The said law is not just another slap in the face of the public by the arrogant Fico cronies, it is equally embarrassing, that we gained the first news from a foreign network. Not only will it again jeopardise further millions of EU support, that Slovakia direly needs, it is also a bad reflection of the whole parliamentary and journalistic professionalism. Call it legislative flaws or whatever, it indicates the poor state of democracy.Welcome to Slovakia.

MS

ADDENDUM: I must correct one detail; apparently, periodicals E-Trend and Hospodárske noviny did mention the passing of the information bill, yet only marginally and the heading of one of them was not conclusive enough for such a serious matter. Other newspapers mentioned it only post facto.

Initiating, filing, discussing and finally passing a bill (law) is one of the tasks of a parliament among others. Anyone, whether a minister, or a parliament member - regardless whether belonging to the coalition or opposition, has the right of initiative, and this should be equally treated with a professional conscientiousness. Expertise of anyone (even specialists in the back offices) should ensure that all laws passed, would leave parliament in their best possible state. In countries where case law is current, the law will in due time be supplemented according to daily applicability if unexpected issues would occur that would in effect prove to be problematic due to international treaties (like the Human Rights' Charter, EU-legislation vis-à-vis national legislation and the like). Basically, coalition versus opposition should guarantee just laws. Whether this concept is fully understood by all members within parliament - including their legal experts behind the scenes - is something that made me wonder in the last few weeks, as quite unhappy mishaps have occurred. Just to mention three recent examples: Firstly, a bill came into effect, where - when applied according to the letter - single mothers would receive a monthly social benefit of over five thousand Euros. Mr Fico is priding himself for having the most-social government, but five thousand Euros is a bit over the top I reckon. Whether the formulation of certain passages has been done in a haste to meet a deadline or not, is irrelevant - texts of (new/amended) bills should carefully be studied, both by the initiator but especially by the opposition as well. Especially to catch unclarities or simple typo-errors, which could lead to absurd situations, like the one mentioned. None of the legal specialists ever took a calculator and figured out what the amendment contained?So why did this happen. Secondly, the recent Patriotic Act, which caused a lot of dismay not only within Slovakia - only to be supported by some extremist fanatics - but also abroad, labelling Slovakia with North-Korean tendencies. A parallel, which is not too far fetched in my view. The absurdity of this law, has caused most opposition members not to participate in its voting. Why? The result was, that - despite its ludicrous principle - the bill made it with an astonishing majority through parliament, up to he point that even the initiator, the nationalist SNS members were overwhelmed with surprise. Nationalism is a dangerous yet effective tool to foul-mouth your opponent. Was it because of this, that hardly any opposition member dared to vote against? The electorate is fairly sensitive to such signals (even though absurd) and I must admit that even I am often shocked by the level of blind patriotic 19th-century style rhetoric among voters. Nevertheless, ignoring or willingly abstaining from voting this law, is a huge faux-pas. Now, when shedding bitter crocodile tears opposition should be aware of bearing the blame as well. The third example is of a bit more serious nature: On 9 March, the ruling party rushed a bill through parliament, dealing with information access regarding nuclear power plants. A few days earlier, the European Commission warned Slovakia that it fell short in respecting public interest in their PPP-projects, threatening to cut off EU funds. The issue was that public had hardly time to find out or respond to state-directed projects. The cabinet took it as a triviality and after modifying some legislation everything was back to business. Not so; on Tuesday the said bill would restrict public (or legal experts) to gain information access. A restriction that was even worse than the mentioned PPP-related issue. What was even more ironic - not only slipped it through the attention of the opposition, but the news came not from the Slovak media. Despite my continuous RSS feeds, where get all updates within a few seconds the moment they appear in the major newspapers/servers, it was a live broadcast by Olga Baková on the Czech network CT24 (which I happened to watch that moment by coincidence), that broke the news. For a while, according to Google, Slovak servers had no entry on that one. The said law is not just another slap in the face of the public by the arrogant Fico cronies, it is equally embarrassing, that we gained the first news from a foreign network. Not only will it again jeopardise further millions of EU support, that Slovakia direly needs, it is also a bad reflection of the whole parliamentary and journalistic professionalism. Call it legislative flaws or whatever, it indicates the poor state of democracy.Welcome to Slovakia. MS applied - i.e. supplemented - according to daily a applied - i.e. supplemented - according to daily a

Initiating, filing, discussing and finally passing a bill (law) is one of the tasks of a parliament among others. Anyone, whether a minister, or a parliament member - regardless whether belonging to the coalition or opposition, has the right of initiative, and this should be equally treated with a professional conscientiousness. Expertise of anyone (even specialists in the back offices) should ensure that all laws passed, would leave parliament in their best possible state. In countries where case law is current, the law will in due time be supplemented according to daily applicability if unexpected issues would occur that would in effect prove to be problematic due to international treaties (like the Human Rights' Charter, EU-legislation vis-à-vis national legislation and the like). Basically, coalition versus opposition should guarantee just laws. Whether this concept is fully understood by all members within parliament - including their legal experts behind the scenes - is something that made me wonder in the last few weeks, as quite unhappy mishaps have occurred. Just to mention three recent examples: Firstly, a bill came into effect, where - when applied according to the letter - single mothers would receive a monthly social benefit of over five thousand Euros. Mr Fico is priding himself for having the most-social government, but five thousand Euros is a bit over the top I reckon. Whether the formulation of certain passages has been done in a haste to meet a deadline or not, is irrelevant - texts of (new/amended) bills should carefully be studied, both by the initiator but especially by the opposition as well. Especially to catch unclarities or simple typo-errors, which could lead to absurd situations, like the one mentioned. None of the legal specialists ever took a calculator and figured out what the amendment contained?So why did this happen. Secondly, the recent Patriotic Act, which caused a lot of dismay not only within Slovakia - only to be supported by some extremist fanatics - but also abroad, labelling Slovakia with North-Korean tendencies. A parallel, which is not too far fetched in my view. The absurdity of this law, has caused most opposition members not to participate in its voting. Why? The result was, that - despite its ludicrous principle - the bill made it with an astonishing majority through parliament, up to he point that even the initiator, the nationalist SNS members were overwhelmed with surprise. Nationalism is a dangerous yet effective tool to foul-mouth your opponent. Was it because of this, that hardly any opposition member dared to vote against? The electorate is fairly sensitive to such signals (even though absurd) and I must admit that even I am often shocked by the level of blind patriotic 19th-century style rhetoric among voters. Nevertheless, ignoring or willingly abstaining from voting this law, is a huge faux-pas. Now, when shedding bitter crocodile tears opposition should be aware of bearing the blame as well. The third example is of a bit more serious nature: On 9 March, the ruling party rushed a bill through parliament, dealing with information access regarding nuclear power plants. A few days earlier, the European Commission warned Slovakia that it fell short in respecting public interest in their PPP-projects, threatening to cut off EU funds. The issue was that public had hardly time to find out or respond to state-directed projects. The cabinet took it as a triviality and after modifying some legislation everything was back to business. Not so; on Tuesday the said bill would restrict public (or legal experts) to gain information access. A restriction that was even worse than the mentioned PPP-related issue. What was even more ironic - not only slipped it through the attention of the opposition, but the news came not from the Slovak media. Despite my continuous RSS feeds, where get all updates within a few seconds the moment they appear in the major newspapers/servers, it was a live broadcast by Olga Baková on the Czech network CT24 (which I happened to watch that moment by coincidence), that broke the news. For a while, according to Google, Slovak servers had no entry on that one. The said law is not just another slap in the face of the public by the arrogant Fico cronies, it is equally embarrassing, that we gained the first news from a foreign network. Not only will it again jeopardise further millions of EU support, that Slovakia direly needs, it is also a bad reflection of the whole parliamentary and journalistic professionalism. Call it legislative flaws or whatever, it indicates the poor state of democracy.Welcome to Slovakia. MS applied - i.e. supplemented - according to daily a applied - i.e. supplemented - according to daily a