Monitor: Progressive Slovakia Doesn't Want to Repeal or Reopen Benes Decrees

(TA3,'V politike', 30 November) The opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) party does not propose to abolish the so-called Benes Decrees or reopen them, and accepts them as part of Slovakia's history and legal order — it only proposes that no new legal facts or uncertainty over property ownership arise on their legal basis, MP Zuzana Mesterova (PS) stated on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (the Slovak National Party nominee) responded that the Benes Decrees are a closed matter. According to him, PS aims to undermine all property rights in Slovakia. "These are 80-year-old documents. They also affect the rights of property owners of Slovak nationality. In 2019, the State Land Fund filed 600 motions and expropriated several hectares of land in favour of the state solely by invoking these historical documents," Mesterova said. According to Taraba, the issue of the Benes Decrees has troubled no one; they remain part of the legal system in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia and have also been accepted by the EU. "The issue you are opening could lead to, for example, land on which a television station or homes stand suddenly being claimed by some citizen of the Republic of Hungary, saying it belongs to him and demanding settlement," the minister noted. He also considers the issue closed between Slovakia and Hungary, and warned PS not to play any nationality card. Also broached in the debate was the plan to abolish the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers (UOO). Taraba considers this institution a pseudo-office and does not understand why such an office exists at a time of fiscal consolidation. He believes Slovakia does not need it, as anti-social conduct should be dealt with by the Prosecutor General's Office and the police. However, he accepts that the interior minister has decided to strengthen the standing of the UOO by investing it also with responsibility for victim protection. Mesterova believes Taraba does not understand the issue. She sees no reason for the government to convene over the weekend and abolish UOO through fast-track legislative procedure. According to the MP, the government is risking 2.7 billion euros from the Recovery Plan, to which the office is linked. The Deputy Prime Minister also commented on the fact that the Slovak Information Service is headed by Pavol Gaspar, the son of Smer-SD MP Tibor Gaspar. Such personnel ties, he said, do not send a good signal. "From my point of view, this form of ties does not belong in the security services," Taraba said. mf