Simecka: People in Southern Slovakia Also Suffer from Government's Incompetence

Komarno/Bratislava, 20 November (TASR) – People in southern Slovakia are also suffering from the consequences and incompetence of the Fico government, Progressive Slovakia (PS) party leader Michal Simecka declared in Komarno (Nitra region) on Thursday during a joint press briefing with PS MEP Ludovit Odor as part of the party's tour of the southern regions. Simecka stated that the region lags behind economically, with the business environment burdened by rising levies, while the whole of Slovakia is suffering from higher prices as well as a rise in crime. The PS leader warned that, in addition to impoverishment and failing infrastructure affecting the entire country, the south is also experiencing demographic decline and economic stagnation. "These fundamental problems here are further linked to the issue of ethnicity. Many [ethnic] Hungarians living in Slovakia have a justified feeling that their rights aren't fully respected, that the state pays little attention to them and that they come second for the government. Fico's government completely ignores the economic needs of southern Slovakia, and when historical injustice is added to that, the frustration of Hungarians living in Slovakia is entirely understandable," Simecka declared. PS, he said, intends to do everything possible to improve relations between Hungarians and Slovaks. For this reason, the PS parliamentary caucus will adopt a resolution in Komarno on coexistence and development in southern Slovakia. The party wants this resolution to clearly reject the principle of collective guilt, which after the Second World War led to the cruel removal of civil rights from many innocent Hungarians living in Slovakia [part of the so-called Benes Decrees of the late 1940s — ed.note]. "We also want to call on the Slovak government to take immediate and concrete steps to improve the lives of Slovak citizens of Hungarian ethnicity — both economically and in the area of human rights," the PS leader added. Odor criticised the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), saying that it's incapable of pursuing minority policy or economic policy. "All other EU countries are overtaking us. Since 2006, this stagnation has cost the average Slovak family €1,000 per month. And this is even more visible in southern Slovakia," the MEP warned. According to Odor, PS aims to reverse the negative trend through its TRESK (Bang) economic programme, meaning a total restart of Slovakia's economy. "Several parts of the programme could help southern districts. For example, we want regions to have a greater say in allocating EU funds, because they know best what they need. We also want greater decentralisation, as current redistribution mechanisms are set up to the disadvantage of the southern regions," he noted. Members of the PS parliamentary caucus and the party's MEPs have so far visited Dunajska Streda, Samorin, Velky Meder and Komarno, and they'll continue on to Vrable, Kolarovo, Nove Zamky and other towns. They've held dozens of meetings and discussions with local entrepreneurs, municipal representatives, cultural and educational figures, as well as "ordinary people in the pub". mf/df