MPs to Be Present at Hearings of Candidates for STVR General Director Post

Bratislava, May 12 (TASR) - MPs from the culture and media parliamentary committee, Karol Farkasovsky (Slovak National Party/SNS), Tomas Szalay (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS), Zora Jaurova and Dana Kleinert (both Progressive Slovakia/PS) will take part in person in Monday's meeting of the Council of public-broadcaster STVR, at which candidates for the STVR general director post will be heard. The council members approved their presence at the session before the hearings of the candidates. Media committee head Roman Michelko (SNS) asked council chair Jozef Kroslak on Friday (May 9) to enable the MPs to participate in the hearings. Council member Igor Gallo proposed expanding the principle of physical presence to include the public. Council member David Lindtner responded by stating that the public can watch the hearings via an audiovisual online broadcast and that the legal requirement will be fulfilled in this way. "I'm not sure that this hearing would be more transparent if someone were physically present here without the ability to intervene in the hearings," said Lindtner. The council then rejected Gallo's proposal. Martina Flasikova will be the first candidate to appear before the council. ko/df