Students Invite Fico to Join Anti-corruption March
Bratislava, September 25 (TASR) – The organisers of the great anti-corruption march slated for Monday evening have delivered a letter to the Government Office inviting Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to join the march’s third edition, TASR learnt on the same day.
The students in their letter report that in four months they have managed to collect more than 70,000 signatures under a petition demanding to initiate a no-confidence motion in Interior Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD).
The march’s organiser, grammar school student and member of the petition committee, Karolina Farska, explained that the letter of invitation is their response to the latest anti-corruption moves made by the prime minister following his visit to the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) in Austria on Friday (September 22). The organisers don’t view Fico’s measures in this regard as meeting their requirements.
“We’re asking him why, when willing to adopt further anti-corruption measures, he ignores tens of thousands of people who have signed a petition or have participated in a march. So, we’ve decided to invite him to our anti-corruption march… We’ll be pleased if he comes and explains to people what he means by corruption,” said Farska.
The third great anti-corruption march is slated for this evening in Bratislava, with the planned route being Hviezdoslavovo Namestie-Jesenskeho street-Sturova street-Namestie SNP.
The students have a set of demands similar to their previous marches: investigations into the “Basternak” and “Gorilla” cases, the ouster of Kalinak and Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar as well as the resignation of Special Prosecutor Dusan Kovacik.
Following a meeting between Fico and Dean of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) Martin Kreutner in the Austrian town of Laxenburg on Friday, the prime minister announced that an Office for Public Interest Protection is likely to be set up in Slovakia in order to protect people who are willing to combat corruption. Fico and Kreutner signed a memorandum on cooperation in fighting corruption. Moreover, Fico stated that as much as €200,000 has already been earmarked for organising courses devoted to anti-corruption issues.
