The Statistics Office. (source: TASR)
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, wants to know why the government has replaced the head of Slovakia’s Statistics Office.
Without any explanation, the Smer-led government replaced Peter Peťko, who was appointed by Eduard Heger’s cabinet, with former Smer MP Martin Nemky following the adoption of changes to the Competence Act on February 6.
“Eurostat asked the Slovak authorities to clarify the circumstances that led to this dismissal and the appointment of a new director,” Eurostat’s media team told the Sme daily.
The Competence Act, approved in a fast-track legislative procedure, came into effect on February 1. The law laid the grounds for the creation of the Tourism Ministry, but also transferred the competence to appoint and remove the directors of the Statistics Office and the Healthcare Surveillance Authority from the president to the government. President Zuzana Čaputová opposed the change, in addition to changes in regard to the Slovak Information Service (one of Slovakia’s intelligence agencies) and arms trade licences, eventually vetoing the legislation. But the coalition MPs overrode it.
The opposition warned against the politicisation of the Statistics Office, citing the EU regulation on European statistics that guarantees the professional independence of the leadership of all statistics offices in the EU. This requirement is also mentioned in the Slovak law on statistics.
The government has the right to dismiss the head of the Statistics Office if they have ceased to meet the requirements for the performance of their duties, have been convicted, deprived of legal capacity, acted in violation of the law in the performance of their work, or if other serious reasons arise.
The European Statistical System criticised Slovakia for the way it selected the heads of the Statistics Office several months before the Smer party came to power in October 2023. The selection process was called ‘non-transparent’ in July 2023. At that time, the technocratic government led by Ľudovít Ódor was already in power after it replaced the Heger cabinet.
Despite criticism, Eurostat has no competence to reverse the latest change in the leadership of the Statistics Office, nor can it fine Slovakia.
