Ministry: No Reason to Dismiss Bibiana Head Flach, PS's Proposal Purpose-built

Bratislava, 22 July (TASR) - The Culture Ministry views a proposal to dismiss Petra Flach, director of the International House of Art for Children Bibiana, formulated by representatives of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, as unsuitable and purpose-built. Like the director herself, the ministry emphasised that although an error regarding access to information did occur, the organisation has remedied this and provided cooperation. The ministry pointed out that the reason for the error was the absence of internal guidelines, which didn't exist under Bibiana's previous leadership, headed by Zuzana Liptakova. "Under the current leadership, these key procedural documents were finalised, approved and put into practice, which has significantly increased transparency and legal certainty concerning the institution's activities," stated ministry spokesperson Petra Bacinska. Therefore, the ministry sees no reason to dismiss the current director. "It's in the public interest to support the continuous improvement of the institution's functioning rather than sanctioning misconduct that was caused by a systemic legacy of the previous period and that has since been responsibly resolved," said Bacinska in response to the call made by PS representatives on Friday (18 July). PS MPs Dana Kleinert and Michal Sabo at a news conference on Friday called on Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (an SNS nominee) to dismiss the Bibiana director for violating the law on access to public information. Kleinert explained that the violation concerned her inquiries into the setting up of a new marketing and strategy department at Bibiana, which raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest. Bibiana's management failed to provide the requested information and didn't issue any formal decision on the matter. Bratislava District Office ruled that Flach's action was a misdemeanour and reprimand her as part of the penalties. Flach admitted misconduct while pointing to an absence of respective internal guidelines. ko/df