Premier: Culture Ministry Progressing Rapidly With Government Manifesto Tasks

Bratislava, 13 June (TASR) - The Culture Ministry is progressing at a relatively fast pace in fulfilling the tasks set out in the government’s manifesto, currently reaching around 50 percent, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said after a working session with Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) at the ministry on Friday. “The monitoring system we have at the Government Office shows that the pace at which the Culture Ministry is fulfilling its tasks is already at nearly 50 percent, and we’re still not even halfway through our term. (...) I can say with great satisfaction that, as with other ministries, the pace of task completion at the Culture Ministry is higher than expected, as we should currently be somewhere around 35 to 40 percent,” the Prime Minister said, thanking Simkovicova. Fico highlighted that the ministry has successfully implemented 23 measures. The premier praised the approach combining reforms, recovery, and innovation, and added that thanks to EU funding, a connected network of creative centres has been established in six regional cities, he said. “I appreciate that the minister understands it's our duty to speak about national culture, to speak about the Slovak language while fully respecting the languages of national minorities, and that there's an interest in safeguarding the purity of the Slovak language,” Fico stated. He also highlighted the establishment of the public service broadcaster Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), the reform of the Arts Support Fund, and the launch of the cataloguing of artworks. lin