Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday, May 13, responded to earlier comments by opposition leader Mikuláš Dzurinda, decrying what he called the “wickedness and hypocrisy” of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) party chairman, as well as party vice-chairman, Ivan Mikloš.
Dzurinda said that Fico is to blame for a 13-percentage-point fall in Slovakia’s GDP growth rate in just two years. In his response, Fico claimed that Dzurinda and Mikloš represent “politics featuring a string of scandals and damage inflicted on the Slovak public”.
The statement, submitted to the TASR newswire by Fico spokesperson Silvia Glendová, also states that the SDKÚ representatives have engaged in gross demagogy in blaming the government for the economic slowdown, which the statement says is to be ascribed to the global economic crisis instead. According to Fico, Slovakia is currently experiencing the lowest inflation for the past 20 months, foreign trade has been revitalised (reflected in a positive trade balance), the sale of cars has been re-launched and the European Commission sees good prospects for Slovakia's economic performance in 2010.
“The SDKÚ representatives haunt and lie ... while it was they, with their neo-liberal policies, that helped the crisis to emerge,” said Fico, adding that nobody who misuses the crisis for their own political purposes deserves any respect. 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.
