BRATISLAVA, October 30, (WEBNOVINY)- Prime Minister Iveta Radicova stated in a discussion program Saturday Dialogues on Slovak Radio that the Prosecutor General Office needs new blood. She was reacting to the upcoming prosecutor general election in parliament. Seven years in office is quite enough and the exchange in the post would be beneficial after such long period, she indicated concerning the intention of the incumbent Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka to run for reelection in next week’s election. His seven-year tenure ends in the spring of 2011. A deputy for SMER-SD and his parliamentary mate from the SDKU-DS proposed his candidacy. Trnka however is unacceptable for the SDKU’s coalition partner, the party MOST-HID.
The prime minister said she wants to meet with deputies of her party SDKU-DS prior to the election. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday. She also wants to convene a meeting of the Coalition Council regarding the same topic. Radicova would welcome if all four deputy clubs of the ruling coalition strike accord regarding the joint candidate for the prosecutor general post.
The prime minister underscored that the question for her is whether it is possible to say that the prosecutor general office fulfills its task and function in the situation when there are problems with law enforceability, when most citizens do not trust the judiciary and justice, when they witness how millions and billions disappear and nobody is called to account for it. She insists that the prosecutor office fails to comply with the law regarding fulfilling its goal. She gave high marks to the office’s work in fighting organized crime but underscored that cases which have not been closed raise doubts. She mentioned the halted investigation in the case of asset siphoning in VUB Banka, halted criminal prosecution of some former HZDS officials and some privatizers, release of tycoon Jozef Majsky and other controversial cases. The current government’s ambition is to stop or at least reduce high corruption rate, said the prime minister. She underscored that the prosecutor general office really needs new blood, energy and enthusiasm to prevent such cases from repeating.
Election of a new prosecutor general divided the four-party ruling coalition. Three parties, the SaS, Christian Democrats and MOST-HID, proposed a joint candidate, Eva Misikova, currently a prosecutor serving at the Office of the Prosecutor General. MOST-HID leader Bela Bugar had previously suggested that the three parties would support a candidate of SDKU-DS but the strongest member of the ruling coalition had failed to come up with one. However, two of its MPs tabled their proposals; Jana Dubovcova nominated the Prosecutor at the Special Prosecutor Office, Jan Hrivnak and Stanislav Janis backed the incumbent Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka. Moreover, Trnka’s nomination was supported by the strongest member of opposition SMER-SD. According to Bugar, if coalition deputies vote for Trnka together with opposition, it could mean the beginning of the end of the coalition. Prime minister Radicova respects the majority nomination of the three coalition parties, Eva Misikova. She indirectly rejected Trnka, when she said that an opposition party will not make personnel policy decisions for the ruling parties. According to the head of KDH Jan Figel, the fact that Misikova’s nomination was signed by 51 deputies needs to be taken into account.
SITA