PS: Reducing Number of Self-governing Regions Won't Save €500 million

Bratislava, August 15 (TASR) - Reducing the number of self-governing regions from eight to four will not generate savings of €500 million, as stated by Parliamentary Vice-chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) since most of the money that passes through the regions is earmarked for schools, roads and social-care facilities which must be preserved, the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party said in response to Danko's proposal, TASR was told by Peter Koles from the PS media department on Friday. "Andrej Danko is misleading. The scrapping of the regions alone will not bring savings of €500 million," said PS MP Jana Hanuliakova, adding that the savings from fewer officials would amount to several millions, which the government can find in its own expenses. "Progressive Slovakia is ready to discuss the reform of local government, but it mustn't be led by Andrej Danko," said Hanuliakova, adding that the discussion is necessary, but it must begin with experts and not with populist statements. Moreover, MP Stefan Kiss (PS) thinks that Andrej Danko's statements are a cover-up manoeuvre. According to Kiss, he is trying to cover up the fact that the coalition "has no idea how to get public finances under control". At Thursday's meeting of the coalition council the SNS party proposed reducing the number of self-governing regions from eight to four. The proposed model would follow Slovakia's historical divisions and create four regions: Bratislava, West, Central and East. According to the party, the reform would generate savings of over €500 million by reducing the number of offices and eliminating redundancy. Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on Friday that Smer-SD is prepared to vote in favour of the proposal. He noted that reducing the number of self-governing regions is one way to save financial resources without jeopardising the functioning of the state. am/mcs