Interior Minister Will Deal with GRECO's Recommendations Concerning Police

Bratislava, 5 September (TASR) - Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) will deal with the recommendations by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) which apply to his ministry and the police force, he told a press conference on Friday. Responding to a question about GRECO’s latest report criticising Slovakia for insufficient compliance with the recommendations, Sutaj Estok said he believes the Internal Affairs Inspectorate (UIS) is functioning better than during the 2020–2023 period and is also achieving better results. "If we want to talk about the independence of the Internal Affairs Inspectorate, I recommend these foreign experts to take a close look at the year 2023," the minister noted, adding he is glad that Branislav Zurian is now the head of the UIS. He noted that three of the outstanding recommendations relate to the Interior Ministry and the police, and stressed that the fight against corruption and crime will simply exist forever. According to Sutaj Estok, there are instruments which, once implemented, will gradually prove more effective, but he did not specify what those instruments are. However, he added he would study GRECO’s recommendations. On Thursday (4 September), GRECO called on the Slovak Republic to take action to implement the outstanding recommendations in preventing corruption and strengthening the integrity of the police force. According to GRECO, Slovakia has fully implemented only five of the 21 recommendations in the 2019 evaluation report. jrg/mcs