Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová agreed with the offer of the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry and will move from her privately rented offices to new premises next April.
The building, on Grösslingová street in downtown Bratislava, belongs to the Administration of Diplomatic Services.
“The Ombudsman’s Office will have a dignified residence, after 12 years,” Dubovcová said, as quoted by the Sme daily on July 1. Before she took up the position, the office paid €262,000 annually for the rent, now it will pay €192,000; while another €50,000 a year will be saved thanks to the move.
Dubovcová has to wait with moving until the current rental contract expires. The office has been renting the space form a private company owned by the relatives of former Slovak National Party (SNS) MP Víťazoslav Móric.
Earlier, the premises in Grösslingová had been used by the Regional Centre of the UN Development Program that is now leaving Bratislava for Turkey.
After a government session earlier this year at which the cabinet did not let Dubovcová report on last year’s police raid in Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák hinted he would like to move Dubovcová’ s office to Jelšava. Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška asked for the Public Defender of Rights’ Office to be moved to Košice.
“If she wants to tackle problems with inadaptable citizens, she should experience them first-hand,” Paška said by the end of January 2014, as quoted by Sme.
(Source: Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
