NASES Views Slovensko.Digital's Actions as Economic Coercion (2)

Bratislava, 6 July (TASR) - The Slovensko.Digital civil association's conduct raises concerns that it may be intended to paralyse the ongoing processes at the National Agency for Network and Electronic Services (NASES) and promote alternative solutions that would benefit commercial entities at the state's expense, NASES spokesman Petar Lazarov stated on Monday. He added that the agency's management had also filed a criminal complaint against Slovensko.Digital over what it believes are signs of coordinated pressure on employees. "NASES management will not tolerate private interest groups holding rank-and-file employees hostage and using psychological pressure to undermine the stability of the state's critical infrastructure. The actions carried out through the Slovensko.Digital platform, as well as communications sent from its various email addresses or from those of its representatives, are viewed by the agency as pure economic coercion masked by false rhetoric, rather than legitimate scrutiny of public authorities," said Lazarov, referring to, for example, messages about criminal liability that were sent from Slovensko.Digital Executive Director Peter Steinhubl's address, as well as offers of unofficial phone conversations via social media. According to NASES, targeted media pressure, the threat of legal consequences, and artificial politicisation by the NGO sector are the only reasons for employees' hesitation in registering contracts into the central system. "The current situation surrounding the contracts has shifted to public and political attacks, raising serious concerns among employees that, instead of facing expert debate, they will become the focus of attention as the persons responsible," concluded Lazarov. In its response for TASR, Slovensko.Digital stated that the claims made by NASES are another attempt to deflect attention and urged the agency to stop responding to professional debate by hiding the supporting documents and launching personal attacks and media skirmishes. Instead, NASES should start answering specific questions regarding the projects falling under the public administration central website (UPVS). "The text of the public appeal to NASES employees is known: we called on them to comply with the law and not to yield to any pressure. We refuse to be drawn into efforts aimed at turning this appeal into another media bubble that is meant to cover up unanswered questions about UPVS projects," according to Ladislav Kovar from Slovensko.Digital. Last week, Slovensko.Digital published an open letter warning new NASES employees against pressure to approve projects that have raised concerns among experts. NOTE: This story has been extended to include paragraphs 6 and 7. jrg