Sutaj Estok Wants to Introduce State Residences for Top Officials (2)

Bratislava, May 22 (TASR) - Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) wants to address the issue of the official residences for top three constitutional officials and plans to discuss it with the Parliament's Office, the President's Office and the Government Office, TASR learnt on Wednesday. "We need to re-open talks on this in order to find out which of the real estate properties are suitable, also in terms of security measures [...] At the moment, the discussion hasn't even gotten off the ground," said the minister. The minister finds it unacceptable that three top constitutional officials don't live in residences that meet certain security standards, but in their own homes instead. He wants the issue to fall under the remit of the Government Office and plans to set up systemic measures. "So that we won't enable [protesting crowds] to build gallows in front of homes of politicians," warned Sutaj Estok. The minister will also submit additional measures to bolster security. "These are going to be divided into some short-, mid- and long-term measures, which will stem from talks of the working group," he claimed, adding that aside from the protection of constitutional officials, protection is to be extended as needed to various institutions and individuals as well. These plans are perceived as beneficial by House Defence and Security Committee head Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), too. "It's a systemic measure [...] All future prime ministers, presidents or House chairs must accept security parameters and cannot arbitrarily demand to live here or there at their own homes," he said. mf/mcs