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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSL #0055 0330732
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020732Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2285
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000055 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV LO
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION SCORES ANOTHER GOAL (AGAINST ITSELF!) 
 
¶1. (U) In a press conference on January 27 announcing a new 
initiative "Slovakia: You Can Do It!" in support of civic 
activism and political change -- represented first and 
foremost by support for opposition candidate Iveta Radicova 
-- former Justice Minister and Christian Democratic (MP) 
Daniel Lipsic did the unthinkable.  In his call for voters to 
support Radicova as a clean candidate of change, Lipsic 
stated that the former government of Mikulas Dzurinda (which 
included KDH) owed a "moral debt" to voters because of 
corruption-related scandals for which no one has ever been 
held accountable. 
 
¶2. (U) As an example, Lipsic cited one of the most damaging 
allegations against the Dzurinda government: the inexplicable 
support of two HZDS deputies for the government which was 
widely believed to be the product of a vote-buying scheme. 
Those votes enabled Dzurinda's embattled government to remain 
in office. Because of a lack of hard evidence, as well as 
parliamentary immunity, the investigation launched at the 
time of the scandal (2005) went nowhere. 
 
¶3. (U) That Lipsic's support for Radicova  -- which we don't 
doubt is genuine -- was expressed in the context of this mea 
culpa backfired immediately.  Radicova had become Ministry of 
Labor and Social Affairs shortly after the scandal erupted, 
and although Lipsic stated explicitly that she "has a clean 
shield, and was not associated with any scandals, but rather 
with the former government's successes in social policy." 
Prime Minister Fico -- not to mention other presidential 
candidates -- spared no time in attempting to tar Radicova 
with the old charges.  Fico stated that "she cannot say that 
she has clean 'shield,' she does not. She profited and 
participated in the corruption of parliamentary deputies.  I 
will continue to assert it repeatedly. And we will ask her 
about in another form." 
 
¶4. (U) Radicova was a sociologist before she joined the 
Dzurinda government as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs 
in 2006.  She is widely viewed as having been much more 
successful than her fellow ministers in putting a "human 
face" on the difficult reforms that the Dzurinda Government 
initiated.  She only became an MP in the 2006 elections, and 
there is absolutely no credible reporting that Radicova was 
involved in any malfeasance during her tenure in the 
government. 
 
¶5. (U) Fico's cryptic statement that "we will ask her by way 
of another form" took on additional significance after 
Slovakia's General Prosecutor, Dobrslav Trnka, announced at a 
January 28 press conference that he would ask Lipsic to 
explain his statements, and if he revealed new, relevant 
information, the General Prosecutor's office would open an 
investigation.   PM Fico commented that "if anybody is buying 
MPs and openly confesses it after three years, it's something 
that has no parallel."  All three current leaders of the 
opposition parties (who comprised the Dzurinda government) 
reacted with fury to Lipsic's statements. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  The Slovak political elite was 
flabbergasted by Lipsic's gaffe.  PM Fico and all of 
Radicova's opponents were just as delighted.  Dzurinda's 
former foreign policy advisor Milan Jesovica told Charge that 
Lipsic "had" (emphasizing that he was using the past tense 
purposefully) a bright political future.  Radicova spent much 
of the week combating innuendo about the old scandal.  We 
haven't yet spoken to Lipsic, with whom we have frequent 
contact, but we imagine that he has been on the receiving end 
of some pretty harsh words from members of his own party, as 
well as from Radicova's camp.  His unfortunate evocation of 
the vote-buying scandal completely overshadowed his 
enthusiastic endorsement of Radicova.  Lipsic has run into 
problems before when he has bruited political proposals that 
were not well-coordinated in advance.  He has recovered 
before, but this time we think the damage to his career may 
be serious and long-term. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment, cont: This is just the latest, if the most 
spectacular, self-inflicted wound that this feckless and 
divided opposition has experienced. In fact, since the 
majority of each party wants nothing more than to return to 
government, i.e., to join a coalition with PM Fico in 2010, 
there is no real opposition in Slovakia.  At least no 
coherent or effective one.  Unless -- and until -- the 
leaders of SDKU and KDH accept that partnering with Smer 
would represent a betrayal of their core values and voters, 
they will continue to lose support because their message is 
cloudy and ambiguous.  It's been three years since this crowd 
lost power; in the words of one particularly pragmatic and 
principled SDKU MP -- "they need to get over it." 
EDDINS