President: Gov't Should Use Consolidation to Introduce Reforms (2)

Bratislava, March 11 (TASR) - The Government should take advantage of the ongoing consolidation to introduce a public administration reform that could lead to new ways of Slovakia's governance while also saving public finances, President Peter Pellegrini stated at a press briefing on assessment of the Supreme Audit Authority's (NKU) activities on Tuesday. "If we talk about €2.7 billion, which is a drastic consolidation, then the Government could treat this as an enormous opportunity to usher in revolutionary changes in the way this country is governed," stated Pellegrini, adding that if the Government managed to prepare such reforms, it would simplify the entire state governance while dividing powers between the state, regions and local authorities. Pellegrini also commented on the lifting of some EU sanctions, several of which hurt the Slovak economy, such as the ban on magnesite exports, which affects mines and magnesite facilities in the country. The sanctions also drive up energy prices due to the ban on oil imports from Russia. "There are sanctions that concern, for instance, maritime area and hold no adverse affects for Slovakia, seeing as we don't have any sea, so when some sanctions impact sea shipping, Slovakia has no problem with it. From a long-term view, however, I think that an era is approaching, in which, if the United States and Russia together with Ukraine manage to arrive at a deal on the end of the military conflict and ties with Russia gradually stabilise, it'll be interesting to witness how and which country becomes the first in Europe to propose the scrapping of some sanction sets," said the President. mf