ZMOS: Regions in Slovakia Have Existed for 24 Years and Proven Their Importance

Bratislava, 18 August (TASR) - Regions in Slovakia have existed for 24 years and have proven their importance during that period, and the Slovak Towns and Villages Association (ZMOS) does not consider the Slovak National Party's (SNS) proposal to potentially reduce their number to be a consolidation measure that would have an immediate impact on public finances, stated ZMOS chairman Jozef Bozik on Monday, adding that such a change would also require time and analyses. Bozik stated that ZMOS and the Association of Self-Governing Regions of Slovakia (SK8) are preparing a joint position paper on public administration reform. "It states that we won't raise the issue of the number of regions unless the higher territorial units themselves propose it," said Bozik, adding that the self-governing regions have proven their usefulness in the past. He noted that preparing such a measure requires at least one electoral term and that the real impact on public finances would only be apparent in the next election period, i.e., at least five years from now. According to Bozik, such a step also requires a detailed analysis that would show how the stated amount of savings was calculated and what was compared. At last week'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 (15 August) that Smer-SD is prepared to vote in favour of the proposal. He claimed that reducing the number of self-governing regions is one way to save financial resources without jeopardising the functioning of the state. lin/df