Slovakia Party Presenting Bill Cancelling Recent Salary Increases for Ministers

Bratislava, September 23 (TASR) - The opposition Slovakia party is set to present a bill that will scrap this year's salary increases for ministers in response to the government's prepared package of measures for the consolidation of public finances that will apparently include tax increases for the public, party representatives announced on Monday. "On average, they will rob every Slovak, regardless of their age, of €500 per person next year. This amount times 5.4 million people equals consolidation of €2.7 billion, a sum that [Premier] Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and his gang want to take away from us," said Slovakia party leader Igor Matovic. "If they want to tell people to cut back, to tighten their belts, they should first of all set an example themselves," stressed Matovic. Matovic at the same time noted that the bill would forbid ministers and the premier from making decisions concerning their own remuneration as it would delegate this power solely to Parliament. zel/mcs