AT the start of the electoral term the cabinet promised to cut the state bureaucracy. Instead, however, Slovakia today has 7,000 more bureaucrats than in 2002, the Hospodárske noviny reported.
The state currently employs 41,618 bureaucrats. Officials argue that the increase has been necessary because they have had to fulfill new tasks and therefore needed to expand their staff.
Several new offices have been created in the current electoral term, such as the Agricultural Payment Agency or the Public Health Care Authority.
Another new office is the state service authority (ÚSŠ), which is responsible for recruiting state bureaucrats.
According to economist Ivan Švejna, several of the newly created offices are “useless”, including the ÚSŠ. Even Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš said recently that in his opinion the ÚSŠ was not necessary.
However, there is not enough political will to abolish the office at the moment.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
