Blanar: No One Erodes Professionalism of Slovak Diplomacy, Korcok Lies (2)

Bratislava, November 29 (TASR) - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) rejects accusations that he's dismantling the professionalism of the Slovak diplomacy service and claimed that he's stopping politicisation of the foreign diplomacy service by the progressive ideology, TASR learnt from the ministry press department on Friday. Blanar responded this way to Progressive Slovakia's (PS) criticism of lay-offs for experienced diplomats, calling it an unsubstantiated attack that's grossly misleading. The minister disagrees with the notion that fear and anarchy reigns supreme at the Foreign Ministry under his tenure and he's surprised also by the claim that "employees practice self-censorship". "Either we in the ministry imposed censorship or some people bite their tongues and exercise self-censorship but on your constant switching of allegiances," Blanar sent a message to ex-foreign minister and PS leadership member Ivan Korcok. In addition, Blanar rejects claims that Smer-SD fears Brussels or NATO. He pointed out that just as almost a decade ago Smer-SD rejected mandatory migrant resettlement quotas, it disagrees with Ukraine's accession to NATO today, as that would lead to an even more escalated military conflict. Blanar sees this as evidence of Slovakia's sovereign foreign policy. The minister stated that PS' interpretation of lay-offs for diplomats is misleading. He underlined that the ministry has more than 1,100 employees and there's a need to consolidate personnel too, but only those employees can be let go who are not currently serving abroad in the diplomatic service. That fact means that the ministry didn't have to slash its personnel by 10 percent or 110 employees but "only" by 47 people. "A proportion of them retired, others left after a mutual agreement and hence only 20 people were laid off. Personally, I'm quite sad to see them go," said Blanar, adding that he holds in high esteem all Slovak diplomats and other employees who "carry out their jobs professionally for our homeland and work on its good reputation". According to PS, the Government plans to shatter the professionalism of the Slovak diplomatic service. Earlier in the day, Korcok stated that Slovakia's foreign policy has been turned into a tool to spread fear and polarisation in domestic politics. Together with PS vice-chair Tomas Valasek, Korcok drew attention to lay-offs for experienced diplomats with careers spanning several decades. In Korcok's view, Slovakia's foreign policy has been turned into a tool to spread fear of war, fear of integration and the loss of sovereignty. PS warned that fear of layoffs without reason prevails at the ministry, with Korcok emphasising that Slovakia's foreign policy orientation is undergoing the most extensive change since 1998. mf/mcs