PS: Government Wants to Make Slovakia's Diplomatic Service Unprofessional

Bratislava, November 29 (TASR) - The government wants to make Slovakia's diplomatic service unprofessional, the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party claimed on Friday. PS presidium member and ex-minister of foreign affairs Ivan Korcok stated that foreign policy has become a tool for spreading fear and polarisation in domestic politics. He and PS vice-chair and MP Tomas Valasek pointed out that experienced diplomats have been sacked by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. "An unambiguous goal of ruining the professional service is being implemented at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, literally 'cleaning it up' so that it doesn't disturb the government in its conduct of domestic policy. There's an effort to make foreign policy a loud trumpet and a tool for spreading fear and threats, threats of war, integration and loss of sovereignty," Korcok told a news conference on Friday. He also pointed out that there are fears concerning groundless dismissals at the ministry, with diplomats no longer communicating with each other, which results in a lack of willingness to engage in a critical exchange of opinions. According to him, the professional management of the ministry doesn't work, either. Korcok thinks that the biggest change since 1998 is currently taking place in regard to the direction of Slovakia's foreign policy. "We are on good terms with the Russian aggressor and Hungary, but not with the Czech Republic and Poland. We've destroyed the V4 [Visegrad Four - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary], as well as the Slavkov format [S3 - Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia]," stated Korcok, adding that it is Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) who is responsible for this situation. Valasek drew attention to the new way in which the ministry is organised, which has resulted in personnel changes. "The government is sending in-depth inspections to politically inconvenient ambassadors. They turn everything upside down at these embassies to find any flaw they can. Others are relegated to the lowest possible post, well below the level of their professional experience, only to leave of their own accord. Minister Blanar has misused consolidation to fire yet more people," stated Valasek, adding that 47 people have lost their jobs in this way. Meanwhile, the minister has hired 146 new people since assuming his post. "If he wanted to save, all he had to do was hire fewer new people, as we knew about consolidation a long time ago," said Valasek. The goal of these measures isn't to save, but to replace experienced people with 'our own' people, he stated. ko/df