Environmental activists from Greenpeace called on the government on May 11 to place an expert in the field in the post of environment minister, reported the TASR newswire.
“After an architect and a professional soldier, we're calling on the government to have the sector led by someone who has at least some basic knowledge [of this field],” said Greenpeace Slovakia director Juraj Rizman, as reported by TASR. The two previous environment ministers, Jaroslav Izák and Ján Chrbet, held these professions prior to their appointments.
Rizman said that unsuitable nominations cause harm that takes Slovakia a long time to correct and added that no legislation has been approved, projects have not been carried out, and goals have not been met under the previous government ministers. He said that Slovakia has been waiting six years for an act on environmental burdens, without which it is impossible to systematically clean up areas contaminated by dangerous chemicals, claiming that up to 250,000 people in eastern Slovakia live in an area polluted by PCB substances.
There is a great contradiction between what Slovakia declares on the international scene about lowering emissions and the real situation, said Greenpeace.
“New coal projects are being launched,” said Rizman, adding that a new power plant in Trebišov would increase emissions by 10 percent. The Greenpeace director also told TASR that many former soldiers and security experts are employed at the ministry and the climate protection department is headed by a former director of the intelligence service. 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.
