Putting Slovakia’s house in order

Date: 19/11/1998

If it is to qualify for the first wave of applicants for EU membership, Slovakia must improve its tarnished image. This is one of the major challenges the country's new foreign minister will have to face in the coming months as the enlargement negotiations gain momentum. Simon Taylor reports

EDUARD Kukan, Slovakia's new foreign minister, has given himself a tall order: convincing the international community that Slovakia can purge the legacy of four years of autocratic rule by former Premier Vladimir Meciar.

The experienced politician, who also served as foreign minister in 1994 in the government of Jozef Moravcik, has set an ambitious timetable for making the changes which Bratislava knows are necessary to revitalise its hopes of EU membership.

"We want to clear the image of Slovakia.We know it will be difficult," Kukan concedes.

But he is optimistic that his government can make up enough ground in the coming months to earn an invitation to join the front-running group of applicant countries by the middle of next year.

"We want to have a new report by spring 1999 so the German presidency summit can recommend we start negotiations by the end of 1999," he says.

Kukan blames the Meciar era for the European Commission's recent largely negative report on Slovakia's preparations for EU membership, which criticised Bratislava for "excessive government interference" in the economy. "We don't consider that the Commission's report reflects the activity of the government. There is clear evidence that things are changing," he insists.

The biggest priority for the new government, which was sworn in at the end of last month, is clearly to repair the damage done to Slovakia's image by quasi-totalitarian abuses of state power and a failure to protect the rights of the country's half a million-strong Hungarian minority.

Slovakia would have qualified for membership of the leading group of applicants if it had been judged solely on its economic reforms. But its poor human rights record meant that Bratislava had to keep the champagne corked in 1997 when the EU invited the Czech Republic, its 'other half' before the velvet divorce of January 1993, and four other east European countries into the first wave of candidates.

On a visit to Bratislava in June this year, Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek warned the country to clean up its act, observing: "Democracy does not seem sufficiently rooted in Slovakia."

From a long list of planned political changes, Kukan points in particular to the steps the new government is taking to make up Bratislava's democratic deficit.

In early 1999, the Slovaks are planning to hold free elections for the post of president which has remained vacant since March this year when Meciar's bitter rival Michal Kovac stepped down. Municipal elections are also scheduled, together with the creation of new political institutions to ensure the rule of law.

Kukan, the 59-year-old vice-chairman of new Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) party, also points out that the newly formed four-way ruling coalition includes representatives of the Hungarian minority, which has helped to ease relations with Slovakia's southern neighbour.

A new law guaranteeing minority language rights is due to be passed shortly, along with an immediate legislative change which will give secondary school children the right to receive their reports in their first language. Under Meciar, children could only get the bad news in Slovakian.

Kukan is also keen to stress that the new government will not repeat the bad habits of Meciar and his henchmen by trying to monopolise political power.

The opposition is being given the post of deputy speaker in parliament plus control of several important committees.

FOR Kukan, Slovakia's tainted image can only be improved if some of the more infamous episodes of the Meciar era are fully investigated. The former ambassador to the United Nations is adamant that independent judicial inquiries are essential to get to the bottom of events such as the kidnapping of President Michal Kovac's son and the assassination of a policeman investigating the abduction.

"We have to explore criminal acts which have occurred in Slovakia," he insists. "We really want to give the investigation to an independent court and complete it without any political interference whatsoever."

Kukan is equally sure that the air surrounding Slovakia's privatisation process over the past four years must be cleared of the pervasive stink of corruption. "We want to deal with cases of privatisation strictly according to the decisions of an independent court and avoid any political decisions," he says.

Accusations of nepotism and cronyism abounded in the history of Slovakian privatisation during the Meciar years. According to a study made by Ivan Miklos, former opposition member of the state privatisation board and now deputy minister for economic affairs, large stakes in former state-owned companies were sold off at below market prices to friends and relatives of government and party officials close to Meciar. "There were many cases of daylight robbery," Kukan alleges.

Ensuring fair play in the privatisation process and undoing the mistakes of the past is key to his programme. "It is an area where the Slovak population is looking very hard at our government. We cannot simply close our eyes and say that was history. People think that this government should take responsibility on all these issues," he says.

He concedes that the Commission was justified in criticising Slovakia for a lack of transparency in its economy.

Given the damage caused by the previous government, Kukan admits that it will be very difficult to rebuild confidence in Slovakia. But he claims that, economically, the country is not in as bad shape as some people believe. "We are not lagging behind compared to our neighbours," he insists.

However, in view of the political challenges Kukan and his colleagues face, questions are bound to be asked about whether a government made up of no fewer than four coalition parties possesses the political muscle needed for the task.

After all, Dzurinda's coalition was only formed after Meciar failed to build a workable government even though his party won 26% of votes compared to the 27% obtained by the best performing party, the SDK.

But Kukan rejects suggestions that the new government lacks enough support to make good the errors of the Meciar era. "Negotiations to form a government took a very long time, but I think it was useful to spend tens of hours getting a general agreement on how the four parties will behave," he says.

He also stresses that all four parties in the coalition are pro-EU and pro-NATO and points out that a recent Eurobarometer survey found that 80% of the Slovakian population supported the country's bid to join the Union; although support for entering NATO, which Kukan strongly backs, is lower.

More, perhaps, than the other applicants, the Slovaks hint that they are unhappy with the pace of the enlargement talks and are looking for more moral support from the Union.

"We respect caution, but Slovakia deserves special consideration because we need encouragement. The last four years have been very difficult for the Slovak population and we expect support from the international community," says Kukan.

He adds that while the population is behind the new administration, it will nevertheless need strong backing from its partners abroad if it is to weather the likely storms ahead. "It will be necessary to take some unpopular decisions," says Kukan, citing the need for price deregulation which was artificially postponed by the previous government.

But the foreign minister is realistic about just how much his country can expect from the Union, where governments are clearly in no hurry to speed up the enlargement process. "There is no point in raising the population's expectations too high," he warns. "The population will judge the new government on how far and fast the process goes."

Major interview with Eduard Kukan, Slovakia's new Foreign Minister.