Kiska: Informatisation Has Long Served as Corruption Tool in Slovakia

Bratislava, June 6 (TASR) – The current state of informatisation of society, the implementation of projects in this area as well as issues surrounding the process were high on the agenda at a meeting between President Andrej Kiska and representatives of the Slovensko.Digital civil association on Tuesday.

“Informatisation has been a tool, a source of huge corruption in Slovakia over the past ten years. Almost €1 billion has been spent on informatisation in the past ten years and the result, unfortunately, is miserable. Overpriced and often senseless commissions have been carried out and people haven’t been able to observe any change for the better,” Kiska told the journalists after the meeting.

The president further appreciated the fact that partly thanks to the activities of Slovensko.Digital three great IT projects have been halted and almost €250 million have been saved in this area. Kiska also welcomed the work of Vice-premier for Investments and Informatisation Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) for his cooperation with experts from non-governmental organisations in the first place and for including them in the decision-making processes concerning IT projects.

“Informatisation is more open one year after the establishment of the vice-premier’s Office, but systematic changes are behind schedule and people can’t see any essential benefits,” said Jan Hargas of Slovensko.Digital, adding that the informatisation of the public administration in Slovakia hasn’t been working as expected in the long term.

“We’ve managed to open up the issue of informatisation to the professional public and make it more transparent. That should certainly be appreciated. On the other hand, compared to other countries, we can see that systematic changes and real benefits for the people are still missing,” added Hargas.