Open Culture: Prosecutor Challenges Simkovicova's Nominations to FPU

Bratislava, April 15 (TASR) - The nomination of Peter Grutka and Adriana Tomicova to the Council of the Arts Support Fund (FPU) was not in accordance with the law, the Open Culture platform stated at a press conference on Tuesday after a prosecutor had supported their stance. In January and February, the platform requested that the Prosecutor-General's Office should verify whether Grutka's and Tomicova's nominations met the legal requirement of at least five years of experience in the field of culture, which is mandatory for candidates for the FPU Council. "According to publicly available information, this prerequisite wasn't met, and the prosecutor agreed with our arguments, filing a complaint on April 1 against the actions of Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (an SNS nominee ) and the appointment of both council members,” said lawyer Michal Liptak, who cooperates with Open Culture. "The minister now has a 30-day period starting as of April 1 to address the complaint. She can either comply and revoke the appointments of both members, or reject it. In the latter case, the prosecutor has the option of filing a lawsuit," added Liptak. He also announced that Open Culture has submitted another complaint regarding a legal discrepancy in the appointment of another FPU Council member — Branislav Treger, who was nominated to represent local governments on the council. "In addition to not meeting the required five years of professional experience in culture, he also violates the explicit legal condition that a council member cannot simultaneously serve as a mayor. Mr. Treger is currently the mayor of Liptovsky Hradok,” said Liptak. At the press conference, the Open Culture representatives also reiterated their criticism not only of how the council was formed after changes to the FPU law, but also of the process by which grants are approved. According to them, the council — which currently has the final say in awarding grants — is interfering excessively in the expert decisions of the evaluation committees. They pointed out that delays in the approval process are also causing uncertainty among applicants, specifically highlighting issues in the programme supporting folklore events. mf/df