Interior Ministry Rejects SaS Claims on Promo Materials Spending

Bratislava, 24 July (TASR) – The Interior Ministry "categorically rejects" statements made by representatives of opposition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) regarding the purchase of promotional materials, calling the claims misleading and purpose-built, ministry spokesperson Matej Neumann declared in response to the SaS criticism on Thursday. According to Neumann, the ministry is currently procuring promotional items valued at €122,731, but the procurement process is not yet complete, and the final cost is expected to be lower. He added that the items are intended for all divisions of the ministry. "The ministry is also planning, for the first time, to systematically procure promotional and advertising materials through a four-year framework contract, which will be used according to actual needs and available funds. This isn't an indulgence but promotional material intended, for example, for 'prevention officers' to hand out to children in schools or during lectures for seniors. In most cases, these are items worth under one euro with reflective elements. Just last year, police prevention officers carried out more than 2,000 activities at primary and secondary schools attended by over 50,000 pupils and students," said Neumann. According to the spokesperson, the ministry has until now lacked a unified framework agreement to supply promotional and advertising materials across the entire ministry. "Individual departments handled procurement independently, which led to inconsistency, inefficiency, and, above all, poor value for money," he stated. Neumann emphasised that the ministry is acting transparently and that all public procurements are properly published. He said that he finds it striking that the criticism is coming from a former coalition party. Its representatives, he claimed, "carried out purchases of promotional items in significantly higher volumes" in the past. On Thursday, SaS representatives held a press conference claiming that Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) is using state funds for self-promotion. They referred to two contracts that they say amount to approximately €1.5 million. mf/df