Sutaj Estok Seeks Police Pay Rise, Voice-SD Makes Budget Support Conditional (2)

Bratislava, 28 May (TASR) - Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) told a news conference on Thursday that he plans to increase police salaries and that his party will make this a condition for adopting the state budget for next year. "I'll do my best to ensure that the next budget includes a hike in police salaries, a substantial hike in police salaries. We have this included in the government manifesto, and it will be one of Voice-SD's conditions. Without it, the budget won't be approved," stated Sutaj Estok. According to him, negotiations on preparations for the budget have now begun. He also spoke about introducing a new salary category. Ex-police president and current House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) praised the minister's initiative. He thinks that this demand will probably be raised during the drafting of the budget, which should to be adopted sometime in the autumn. Former interior minister and MP Roman Mikulec ('Slovakia' party – For the People) criticised the interior minister at a press conference on Thursday. According to him, Sutaj Estok has infected the ministry's social security system. "The gap within the system is widening. This specific system is based on maintaining a proportional number of contributors to those who later draw benefits from it. Once this balance is disrupted, there is naturally a problem even with paying pensions," he said. At the same time, he declared that if the 'Slovakia' party forms part of the next government, nothing in the social security system will be changed, it will only "heal" it. Sutaj Estok also responded to statements made by opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party leader Michal Simecka regarding pensions. He declared that as long as he's the minister, he won't touch the social security system of the police or other security forces. NOTE: This story has been extended to include paragraphs 3 and 4. ko/df