Ľuba Lesná - author - page 15 - The Slovak Spectator

Democracy in Slovakia will not be derailed

DEMOCRACY in countries from former communist bloc is stagnating or even decreasing, Freedom House, an international democracy watchdog, wrote in a report published on June 14, inspiring a debate among non-governmental organizations and think-tanks, but leaving most government officials unconcerned.

Ľuba Lesná

"Society has come a long way"

SLOVAK society has come a long way since the first half of the 1990s, said sociology professor Soňa Szomolányi, who sees no risk of Slovakia regressing to the times of Vladimír Mečiar's coalition in 1994 to 1998 when the country found itself on the verge of international isolation.

Ľuba Lesná

Fronc: The KDH is not a one-man party

FORMER education minister Martin Fronc, who says a politician should be capable of self-reflection, was the most popular Christian Democrat at the meeting of the national council of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), which met prior to the party congress last week.

Ľuba Lesná

Hrušovský: I have weaknesses like everyone else

INCUMBENT Pavol Hrušovský is confident that he has massive support for his re-election bid as chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH). From 1998-2002, he served as deputy speaker of parliament, then moved up to full speaker from 2002-2006. He has led the KDH since October 2000, and is currently one of its ministers of parliament.

Ľuba Lesná

Mečiar files remain silent

FORMER Slovak prime minister Vladimír Mečiar was probably only a marginal contact for the communist secret police (ŠtB), said a researcher from the Czech Interior Ministry's security archives.

Ľuba Lesná

Palko: "I will win... the KDH needs a change"

"I will win... the KDH needs a change," former interior minister Vladimír Palko said in an interview with The Slovak Spectator a few days before the the Christian Democratic Movement's (KDH) party congress. Palko, who served in Dzurinda's government between 2002 and 2006, is challenging incumbent Pavol Hrušovský for the party's top post.

Ľuba Lesná

Leadership fight grips Christian Dems

PAVOL Hrušovský, the moderate Christian Democrat who says that politics should be the realm of confident and capable people, and Vladimír Palko, who wants the Christian Democrats to be more conservative and says that "Ján Slota cannot remain Slovakia's only patriot," are competing for the leadership of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).

Ľuba Lesná

No surprises expected at HZDS congress

THE MOVEMENT for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), which has been led by Vladimír Mečiar since its inception, is meeting for a party congress that promises no big surprises.

Ľuba Lesná

Cervanová verdict written

THE PRESIDENT of the Supreme Court Senate has produced a written verdict on one of Slovakia's most closely watched murder cases, five months after the original deadline.

Ľuba Lesná

Veteška: Unsuccessful candidates normally leave the HZDS, but I will stay

VILIAM Veteška has often been dubbed the 'second most popular man' in the ruling coalition's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). However, according to Veteška, there is no such thing as a 'second man' in the HZDS.

Ľuba Lesná

"I respect Tiso, in a way"

An interview with Ivan Petranský, chairman of the Nation's Memory Institute's board of directors.

Ľuba Lesná

Missing secret service files reconstructed

CONFIDENTIAL records kept by the communist secret service (ŠtB) on Vladimír Mečiar and Jaroslav Svěchota have been reconstructed, 17 years after the originals disappeared.

Ľuba Lesná

Czechoslovak ministers worked for the communist secret service

NEW REPORTS published in Prague say that two former government ministers of the first post-revolution govern-ment cooperated with the military counter-intelligence, which was a part of the communist Secret Service (Štátna Bezpečnosť, or ŠtB).

Ľuba Lesná

Creating a 'common political space'

SLOVAKIA MADE the most of its role as host of the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, said Slovak Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška.

Ľuba Lesná

ÚPN co-founder leaves in protest

One of the founders of the Nation's Memory Institute (ÚPN), the office responsible for archiving and publishing state and police files documenting Slovakia's communist and fascist regimes, is now leaving the institute in protest of recent trends.

Ľuba Lesná

European speakers of parliament meet

BRATISLAVA HAS become the host for the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, the highest form of European inter-parliamentary cooperation.

Ľuba Lesná

Still no written verdict after 5 months

THE SIX men convicted in December of murdering medical student Ľudmila Cervanová have still not received an official copy of the verdict.The extreme delay is the result of a request by Štefan Michálik, the president of the senate of the Supreme Court, which ruled on the case, that Chief Justice Milan Karabín grant him a fifth thirty-day extension to the verdict's deadline.

Ľuba Lesná

From assault victim to defendant

HEDVIGA MALINOVÁ, the student from Nitra whose bruised face was splashed all over the media last August as proof of anti-Hungarian violence in Slovakia, was officially charged at the beginning of last week with making the whole story up.

Ľuba Lesná

ŠtB archives still hot topic

A PUBLIC meeting between Ivan Petranský, the president of the board of the Nation's Memory Institute (ÚPN), and Archbishop Ján Sokol, who the ÚPN's archives have indicated cooperated with the communist secret police (ŠtB), has met with criticism since footage from it was shown by public broadcaster STV on May 12.

Ľuba Lesná

Little pomp at War commemoration

SLOVAKIA wanted a dignified commemoration of the 62nd anniversary of the end of World War Two, without the big fuss and ostentatious pomp that was so typical during socialism. After all, the point was to reflect on the bloodiest conflict in history, in which 60 million people were killed.

Ľuba Lesná

List of author's articles, page 15