SINCE the current Mikuláš Dzurinda cabinet was re-elected in 2002, the number of state bureaucrats has increased by nearly 5,000.
This is in conflict with the right-wing cabinet's pre-election promise that it would cut bureaucracy, but the ruling politicians have assured the public that they will keep their promise by the end of the term in 2006.
The Slovak daily SME wrote that Slovakia had 34,500 state bureaucrats in 2002, but there are currently 39,400 in the state administration and a further 19,000 in municipal bodies.