Maroš Žilinka (source: Archive of Sme)
The General Prosecutor’s Office has objections to the agreement that allows the American air force to use Slovak military airports and potentially other facilities.
The office run by General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka submitted 35 fundamental objections to the draft defence agreement between the US and Slovakia in the interdepartmental review procedure. The office has refused the draft agreement as a whole, Žilinka announced on Facebook.
The Defence Ministry said that they are aware of the objections. “We will deal with them, similarly to the objections of the other reviewing subjects,” said Martina Kovaľ Kakaščíková, spokesperson for the ministry, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The defence agreement between the US and Slovakia should allow American air forces to use the military airports of Malacky-Kuchyňa and Sliač, possibly other agreed facilities and premises. Slovakia is supposed to offer these sites without a request of rental payment, with a validity of ten years. The agreement would remain valid following this period and it would also be possible to cancel it with a year's notice period, TASR wrote.
The agreement should permit the use of funds in favour of the Slovak armed forces. Any infrastructure built using US finance will be Slovakia’s property. The American armed forces can use the infrastructure as long as necessary.
