BRATISLAVA, August 3, (WEBNOVINY) – The Ministry of Economy and Construction does not want to give up competencies related to foreign trade which should be passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Minister of Economy and Construction Juraj Miskov does not agree with it in principle and will make use of all opportunities not to support the draft amendment to the Law of Competencies, which stipulates this modification, stated the communications department of the Economy and Construction Ministry.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Construction, the proposal to transfer competencies is in conflict with the government program statement which says that the Cabinet will create a functional model of unified control of foreign services with the goal to effectively use capacities of the network of Slovak representative offices, including full integration of commercial-economic departments of embassies into the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program statement does not contain any reference to transfer of foreign trade competencies, the economy department stated.
Withdrawal of control over foreign trade would significantly weaken flexibility of the Ministry of Economy and Construction in resolving issues of investment, energy policy, and improvement of the business environment, according to the ministry. At the same time it would mean an increased demand factor on processing information, documents, and materials for bilateral talks with foreign partners and coordination of Slovak membership in international economic organizations whose activities have a broader scope than only the area of trade.
Transfer of competencies will not present any savings, on the contrary, according to the department, administrative costs will go up as both ministries will have to cooperate and exchange information. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking for its agenda as its competencies in political diplomacy have been weakened and significantly moved to the European Union or the European Commission,” the Ministry of Economy and Construction said.
The names and competencies of several ministries should change again based on the draft Law on Competencies submitted for interdepartmental review by Prime Minister Iveta Radicova. The ministries of culture and economy should give over some responsibilities to the Transport Ministry, namely tourism from the Culture Ministry and construction from the Economy Ministry. The Transport Ministry will also get administration of EU funds from the competencies of the Cabinet’s Office.
If the Law on Competencies is amended, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism should return to its previous name, the Culture Ministry, as of November of this year. Similarly, the Ministry of Economy and Construction again will be named the Economy Ministry. The name of the Transport Ministry will change into the Ministry of Transport, Regional Development and Tourism.
SITA