Opposition: Culture Minister Simkovicova Needs to Go, She Harms Culture

Bratislava, October 28 (TASR) - Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (SNS nominee) harms the Slovak culture and should be ousted, representatives of the opposition declared at a press conference on Monday. "Let's try, just for the heck of it, off the top of our heads, to remember at least a single thing that the Culture Ministry touched and has made better than it used to be a year ago," said MP Zora Jaurova (PS). MP Dana Kleinert (PS) believes that Simkovicova's actions fly in the face of the Government Manifesto, for instance, in the sphere of protection of historical monuments. "The upshot is that the Let's Restore Your Home project has been left absolutely paralysed. It has never happened before that applications for subsidies are not processed over the course of the given year," said Kleinert, who believes that also going against the Manifesto is the transformation of former Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) into Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), as the government had promised to split the institution into two. The opposition submitted a proposal to have the no-confidence motion put up to a secret vote, so as to enable coalition lawmakers, unhappy with Simkovicova's work, to vote for her ouster too. Jaurova underlined that a number of coalition legislators are aware of Simkovicova's harmful interference with the Slovak culture. MP Michal Sipos (Slovakia-For the People-KU) named at a press conference more than ten decisions of minister Simkovicova he perceives as harmful, citing, for instance, unexplained foreign trips, personnel changes to flagship institutions and the scrapping of RTVS. He believes each of these decisions alone merits the minister's resignation. "This is the trampling of culture, the trampling of figures who have been involved in culture for a long time," he said. SaS culture expert Rene Parak stated that the tenure of Simkovicova and her ministry's state secretary Lukas Machala is the worst thing that has afflicted the Slovak culture since the founding of independent Slovakia. In his view, Simkovicova made it clear during her speech in Parliament that she doesn't even know what the Art Support Fund is or what investment costs and capital expenditures are. Earlier in the day, Simkovicova declared that she has a right to take the steps she does as a minister. In its stance, the government added that the minister is acting in accordance with the Government Manifesto. mf/mcs