BRATISLAVA, January 18, (WEBNOVINY) — The Association of Towns and Villages of Slovakia (ZMOS) demands preserving the Environment Ministry as an independent government department. As ZMOS first deputy chairman Michal Sykora told Wednesday’s news conference, restructuring the ministry will not “help improve things”. He went on to say that they will demand that the ministry is not merged with any other department, while “it seems that the requirement will be accepted”, he said with regard to ongoing talks with all parliamentary parties ahead of elections due on March 10.
According to the association, the department dedicates attention to a lot of topics concerning self-governments, such as waste management and nature protection. ZMOS discussed whether the opposition SMER-SD was considering merging the Agriculture Ministry with the Environment Ministry, as it happened for a short time in the summer of 2010, when SMER-SD was in government. SMER-SD assured representatives of the association that it does not plan to restructure the environment department after the early parliamentary elections. ZMOS Chairman Jozef Dvonc highlighted that during negotiations with parliamentary parties, they emphasize that they reject new competencies for the self-governments without their financial coverage.
As ZMOS management reported to the media on Wednesday before the end of two-day talks with parliamentary parties ahead of the early parliamentary elections in March, parties are interested in active communication with the association, as they consider self-governments to be an important partner to the state. ZMOS proposed topics that should definitely feature in the new government’s program statement, such as the law on social services, social affairs in general, education system and funding of extracurricular activities, among others.
Traditional pre-election debates between ZMOS and representatives of parliamentary parties will continue on Wednesday afternoon with SaS Chairman Richard Sulik and Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Miklos (SDKU-DS). ZMOS Council is to meet in February to discuss its requirements on the new government. ZMOS announced that it would closely watch formation of a new government and ensure that promises made to self-governments will be reflected in the government program.
SITA