Slovakia votes ‘Yes’, but calls ring out for deputy PM to go

Date: 22/05/03

By David Cronin

NO SOONER had Slovakia said 'Yes' to EU membership last weekend than the knives were out for the country's deputy premier, Pál Csáky.

He had already faced calls to quit before the referendum after criticism of the government's lacklustre campaign to promote the Union. Although 92 endorsed membership, the turnout of 52 was only just enough to make the vote binding.

The clamour for Csáky to go has come particularly from Robert Ficó, head of the populist opposition party Smer (Direction). The Slovak journalists' association, SAN, has also criticized him for failing to reach out to young people. It issued a blunt statement, declaring: "In a normal democratic country, politicians resign for mishandled tasks and we are expecting the same from Csáky."

Csáky, however, insists he will not fall victim to a witch-hunt against him: "The results of the referendum were acceptable. Participation at 52 cannot be a failure," he said.

Another dampener on the 'Yes' side's celebrations came after it was revealed that a fraud probe has been launched at a firm which worked on the government's information campaign. Reports in the Slovak media suggest that around €1 million could have been embezzled.

Despite the controversy, the positive vote means that five of the ten states due to join the EU in 2004 have won the endorsement of their electorate (Malta, Slovenia, Hungary and Lithuania have also had referenda carried). The latest result will boost hopes of a similar outcome in polls to be held in Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia (Cyprus is not holding a referendum).

Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, was almost dewy-eyed after hearing the Slovak result: "The people of Slovakia can now say 'we are in the EU'. I hope that we, too, will make use of this chance [on 15-16 June] and that we shall say: 'We are there too'."

His predecessor, 'Velvet Revolution' standard-bearer Vaclav Havel, also urged the country to vote 'Yes', facing down opponents who have warned EU membership will mean a loss of sovereignty. Speaking at a Prague conference, Havel argued that the nation state concept was "becoming a cult object - an antique. A state like the Czech Republic lying in the middle of such a developed environment like Europe cannot have total sovereignty," he added.

Poland's chances of having its 7-8 June referendum carried received a conisderable boost this week when the world's favourite Pole urged a 'Yes' vote.

Addressing Polish pilgrims to the Vatican on Monday (19 May), Pope John Paul II said: "Entry in the EU structures, with equal rights to those of the other countries, is for our nation and the adjacent Slav nations, an expression of a historical justice."

The following day Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, told Warsaw University students that Poland, which sided with the US in its bombing of Iraq, must not seek an à la cartemembership of the Union.

The ex-communist state, he said, could not "have its wallet in the EU and seek security from the US".

In Estonia [polling day: 14 September], ex-premier Siim Kallas said that the country's aspirations to be part of the EU and NATO must be considered jointly.