In rare show of political unity, lawmakers of every stripe view the recent incident in which a Slovak man flying to Dublin had explosives unknowingly left in his luggage by Slovak authorities in a bungled airport security exercise as an international embarrassment, the TASR newswire wrote.
Having apologised to the Irish justice minister, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák blamed the incident on a stupid mistake on the part of certain individuals in the police force.
“Ridicule earned by Slovakia abroad is not good. I believe he [Kaliňák] should take a more serious look at the affair. He played down the whole thing,” said co-ruling Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) MP Ján Kovarčík, opining that the minister should stand down over the matter.
He was echoed by another coalition partner, SNS caucus chairman Rafael Rafaj, who said Slovakia has become untrustworthy amid the case. Every politician should reconsider their staying in the post afterwards, he told TASR.
An MP from the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Martin Fedor, thinks that the incident is not a failure of an individual but of the entire system. According to him, putting an explosive into the luggage of an unsuspecting citizen is immoral, unacceptable and unlawful. Minister Kaliňák, according to him, is responsible for the incident. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
8. Jan 2010 at 10:00
