PS Supports Increase in Defence Spending, But Wants Stricter Supervision over It

Bratislava, 17 June (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party supports increasing Slovakia's defence investments, but it disagrees with the way in which this spending is set to be increased and the chaos that is accompanying it under the leadership of Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD). PS will take part in the round-table debate on defence spending organised by President Peter Pellegrini on Tuesday. However, the party stressed that the coalition parties should meet at the round-table talks, as there's no consensus among them on this issue. PS proposes stricter supervision and monitoring of defence spending. "Progressive Slovakia is consistently in favour of increasing our defence investments, and it's not that we would want to take money from the health-care or education sectors," PS leader Michal Simecka told a news conference. Increasing defence spending is a must given the aggressive policy of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, he said. However, PS disagrees with the way in which defence spending has been increased so far and with the way in which the discussion on it is being held. According to Simecka, Kalinak announced the purchases of weapons systems "hastily", without any strategy and without agreement across the political spectrum. "If it's done in this way, it won't matter if it's 2 or 3 percent [of GDP]. It won't be spent effectively on increasing our defence capabilities," stated the PS leader. ko/df