Sophia in 't Veld (source: European Parliament: Philippe BUISSIN)
It's not all doom and gloom, says Sophia in 't Veld when asked about the post-election situation in Slovakia. She saw the results of the vote, but she also saw how the people of Slovakia took to the streets five years ago.
“I'm convinced that the Slovak people value the rule of law and democracy. I have a very, very positive image of Slovakia and I'm attached to it, so nothing the government or anybody else can say will destroy that image.”
The member of the European Parliament (MEP) is familiar with the situation in Slovakia. After the murder of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, and the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia just a few months before that, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) set up a working group which later became known as the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, and In 't Veld has been leading the group ever since.
Slovakia embarked on a difficult path of reform and carrying out justice, investigating things that have gone wrong, and it is crucial that the process continue, In 't Veld said in an interview with The Slovak Spectator, SME, Denník N, and Pravda dailies during the November plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels.
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“But seeing the choice of the personnel and hearing the statements of Slovak politicians, we are not reassured that that will happen,” she admitted. “Indeed the plans of this government are problematic, as is the fact that some reforms, police investigations, prosecution, and judicial procedures have been dropped or interrupted.”
This refers to the development of the previous years as well, when several criminal cases were scrapped also thanks to the prosecutor general’s power to do so. But MEP In 't Veld views the latest changes in the police, taken by the new Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, as particularly worrying.
“I also hear that Mr. Gašpar is considered to be heading the secret service. He would not be number one on my list,” says In 't Veld.
Gašpar was the Police Corps president under the Smer governments and he faces a criminal case in which the police believe him to have established and maintained a criminal organisation within the police, which went on to exploit the force for its aims. Gašpar was removed following public pressure that came on the heels of the Kuciak murder in 2018; but before the election, he reinvented himself as a politician and became a rather popular figure on the disinformation scene. He was elected for parliament on the Smer slate.
