Representatives of the cultural community will meet regularly with the Health Ministry in connection with the pandemic measures. The agreement was reached at a joint meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister Eduard Heger and Culture Minister Natalia Milanova (both OLANO). The premier declared his interest in looking for financial support for culture in the future. "Culture can't be opened in one day and closed in one day and we're done. Therefore, a representative of culture will have his permanent place in meetings with the Health Ministry, where the current situation will be discussed," said Minister Milanova. Pavol Smolka of the Slovak Music Union believes that an open door directly to the health minister will allow them to work with regard to specific situations and enable culture to no longer be closed.
At the same meeting, journalists also asked Prime Minister whether the head of the Culture Ministry has his trust even after the media reported about her cooperation and communication with former member of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) Peter Toth. Culture Minister Natalia Milanova enjoys my trust, Eduard Heger responded. Milanova had her blogs edited by the former SIS member in 2012-2016. He is linked to the controversial entrepreneur Marian Kocner facing charges in the case of the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova. The Novy Cas tabloid pointed to leaked communication between the Culture Minister and Peter Toth. Milanova was also reportedly in contact with the ex-journalist and ex-SIS member at the time when she started to cooperate with the OLaNO party. Milanova has confirmed her contacts with Toth, who was her colleague, but stressed she had no idea about Toth's ties to businessman Marian Kocner.
Source: TASR
