BRATISLAVA, May 10, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovak Defense Minister Lubomir Galko welcomes the words of his Cabinet colleague, Foreign Affairs Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, who restated during his official visit to Cyprus at the end of last week that the Slovak Cabinet is not going to cancel the Slovak UNFICYP mission. “I am happy that Mr. Dzurinda said it. I think as well that the operation of soldiers in Cyprus is of great international importance. We at the defense department do not have enough finances for this mission but Mr. Dzurinda promised to help find the money. If he said it, he probably resolved the problem. In such case I would be glad if the guys stay there,” said Galko. Slovaks have been involved in the UNFICYP mission for ten years.
Defense Minister Galko recently announced that it will likely be necessary to withdraw Slovak soldiers from the mission in Cyprus within two years for financial reasons. Galko’s statement however angered Dzurinda who considered the announcement premature. Dzurinda said on May 6 during his visit to Cyprus that if the Slovak mission was to be scrapped, the first step would be discreet talks, then the Slovak side would inform partners, and only then the public would be informed, but this was not the case of the UNFICYP,” Dzurinda said.
Though Galko is pleased by the latest statements of Dzurinda, he said that if the unfavorable trend of distributing public money was to continue and given the current critically low budget of the defense department “we will talk not only about Cyprus, but also other missions and supersonic military jets will make it on the agenda of the day.“ According to Galko, also assistance of other Cabinet members will be necessary in deciding on the budget for the army. “Certainly we are able to live also on a low budget, but I openly say that in such case we will behave as responsible managers, meaning that we will spend only the amount we have been allocated.”
SITA