Reasons for Minister Simkovicova's Dismissal Multiply, Claims Cultural Strike

Bratislava, October 25 (TASR) - The reasons why Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) should end in her post are multiplying, representatives of the Open Culture platform and the Cultural Strike initiative told a news conference on Friday. The representatives announced that their further steps will be determined by MPs' position on the no-confidence motion in the minister. "Already at the beginning of this year, the minister took so many steps harmful for culture that almost 200,000 people signed a petition demanding her resignation. However, she didn't listen to this voice of the public. Today, when she's facing a no-confidence motion in Parliament for the second time, there are many more reasons for her dismissal," said Adam Straka, a member of the platform and the Cultural Strike committee. Another committee member, Anna Tuharska, pointed to their reservations about the way in which the current leadership manages the sector, about the political interference in bodies of public-service institutions, the destruction of the ministry's functioning subsidy programme, failures in the field of cultural heritage protection, getting rid of experts in cultural institutions and the way in which the minister and the general secretary of the ministry's service office Lukas Machala deal with the cultural community. "While Premier Robert Fico is talking about the fulfilment of the government manifesto, we opine that none of the aforementioned failures is the fulfilment of the government manifesto, rather the opposite, it is in direct contradiction to it," said Tuharska. Representatives of the Cultural Strike have called on MPs to listen to the reservations of the cultural community and to dismiss the minister. "The further development of the Cultural Strike will depend on whether or not Parliament expresses no-confidence in Minister Simkovicova. Therefore, we'll announce our next steps following the MPs' decision," said committee member Veronika Nemcova. MPs are dealing with proposals for dismissal of Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) and Simkovicova at the ongoing parliamentary session. ko/mcs