VZCZCXRO9582
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHSL #0017/01 0151456
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 151456Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0342
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0401

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/CE FOR J. MOORE AND M. LIBBY 
INR/EUR FOR A. HARMATA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON ELTN LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA: FICO YIELDS TO ONCOMING TRUCKERS 
 
REF: A. 09 BRATISLAVA 535 
     ¶B. BRATISLAVA 7 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000017  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Although protests by Slovak truckers against 
the new electronic toll system appeared to have fizzled by the 
end of last week, the issue regained steam over the weekend as 
truckers instituted partial blockades of several major roads, 
and it became clear that public opinion was widely sympathetic 
to their complaints.  Seeking to defuse what had become perhaps 
the broadest demonstration of popular dissatisfaction of his 
administration, Prime Minister Robert Fico suddenly reversed 
course on Tuesday, meeting several key trucker demands, 
including a dramatic reduction of the excise tax on diesel--an 
enormously valuable concession on an issue not directly related 
to the toll system.  Immediately after caving in to the 
truckers, Fico delivered a strong condemnation of their protest, 
in what many saw as an effort to blunt charges of weak 
leadership.  Fico also sought to make the best of his losing 
hand by shrewdly linking a proposal for the elimination of two 
ministries that had met strong opposition within government to 
the popular excise tax reduction in order to increase its chance 
of success.  Although opposition parties have stepped up 
criticism of Fico's handling of the situation, truckers seem 
happy with the result and unlikely to provoke further 
confrontation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
TRUCKER PROTEST BECOMES A POLITICAL CRISIS 
 
¶2. (U) For the most part, the threatened January 4 trucker 
blockade of gas stations (ref a) failed to take place.  A number 
of station owners had made clear the previous weekend that they 
would not hesitate to call the police in the event that trucks 
were used to block access to gas pumps, and this appears to have 
dissuaded truckers from following through on their threats. 
There was considerable congestion and long delays throughout the 
week at several highway border crossings, but these resulted 
from long lines of trucks who had waited until the last minute 
to install the on-board transponders required by the new toll 
system, and not from any organized protest. 
 
¶3. (U) After Fico continued to refuse to negotiate over the 
course of the week, however, truckers began to mobilize and 
converge on several of the largest Slovak cities, intending to 
blockade several of the "1st Class" roads (i.e., main roads that 
are not part of the highway system) which were newly added to 
the toll system this year.  On the outskirts of Bratislava, 
police stopped and effectively impounded many trucks on a 
pretense in an effort to prevent them from joining the growing 
protest--this move drew sharp criticism as an abuse of police 
powers, with opposition leader Mikulas Dzurinda likening it to 
police actions during the Communist era. 
 
¶4. (U) By Monday, the protests dominated domestic news, even 
pushing aside the infamous explosives scandal (ref b) that had 
been widely reported in the international media.  Several major 
roads were partially blockaded, snarling traffic in Bratislava 
and several other cities.  One trucker dumped a load of manure 
directly in front of the Cabinet Office (he claimed his 
hydraulics had a sudden failure).  Adding to the sense of an 
embattled Fico, numerous media reports depicted the Slovak 
public as being largely sympathetic to the truckers. 
 
 
FICO CAVES IN, THEN GOES ON THE ATTACK 
 
¶5. (SBU) Once the protests developed into a political crisis, 
Fico acted quickly and decisively.  Reversing course, he 
accepted two demands he and Transport Minister Lubomir Vazny had 
previously refused--delaying toll collection on 1st Class roads 
for a month and promising to "fix" a poorly thought-out aspect 
of the system that would heavily penalize delivery trucks that 
frequently get on and off the toll roads.  Fico also took the 
completely unexpected step of reducing the excise tax on diesel 
by nine euro cents per liter (which will reduce the cost of 
diesel by about 10 cents, since VAT is assessed on top of the 
excise tax). 
 
¶6. (SBU) Asserting that the tax cut would reduce government 
revenues by 100 million euros--a tidy sum that would raise this 
year's projected budget deficit from 5.8% to 6.0% of GDP--Fico 
declared that it would be partly offset from savings realized 
from eliminating the Environment and Construction ministries 
(the former would be merged with the Agriculture Ministry; the 
latter with the Ministry of Economy).  The consolidation of 
these ministries has long been planned--a Finance Ministry 
official briefed a group of diplomats about it several months 
ago--but it had lately drawn strong opposition from within the 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000017  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
government as Fico prepared for a public announcement. 
 
¶7. (U) Immediately after announcing his sudden change of heart, 
Fico held a televised press conference together with President 
Ivan Gasparovic and Parliamentary Speaker Pavol Paska, where he 
lambasted the trucker protests for pushing the country along the 
"road to hell" in a way that "dangerously undermines democracy." 
 He blamed opposition parties and the media for causing the 
protests, charging that they had incited illegal activity.  The 
next day, local media ran pictures of Fico as a young opposition 
MP, supporting a 2003 strike by railway workers that blocked 
border crossings and major traffic intersections. 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶8. (SBU) Fico clearly did not anticipate that the toll system 
would precipitate such a strong reaction.  His government had 
secured the support of large trucking companies, in part by 
awarding their trade association an enormously lucrative 
contract to install toll transponders in trucks.  The 
controversy exposed and deepened a split between large and 
medium-sized trucking companies, the latter of which felt 
sidelined and exploited.  These smaller companies led the 
protests, which appeared to shock Fico, who views truckers as a 
loyal and important constituency.  The toll controversy was 
buoyed by the recent explosives fiasco, which many Slovaks 
considered to be a deep embarrassment to Slovakia, and it is 
likely that Fico acted so quickly in part because the 
back-to-back controversies threatened to damage his reputation 
as a strong and competent leader.  Fico's subsequent 
denunciation of the truckers (and also his political opponents) 
was an effort to maintain his image of strength; he clearly 
calculated that the truckers would ignore his comments since 
he'd given them what they wanted. 
 
¶9. (SBU) For the time being, it appears that Fico has resolved 
his political crisis.  Opposition efforts to recall Minister 
Vazny and Interior Minister Robert Kalinak (who has been heavily 
criticized for both the trucker protests and the explosives 
incident) will fail, and attention will soon shift to other 
issues.  But the first widespread public protests of his 
administration certainly drew blood and dented his image as a 
Teflon politician, although it is very much an open question 
whether opposition parties will be able to capitalize on this. 
Fico remains in a dominant position heading into this June's 
parliamentary elections, but that could start to change with a 
few more weeks like the last two. 
EDDINS