The document called 'A Modern and Successful Slovakia' aimed at defining necessary reforms in Slovakia, which was presented on Monday by the Finance Ministry, has triggered political reactions. It basically wants to reform the tax and pension systems, the education and healthcare sectors and promote a greener approach to economic development. It is supposed to form a basis for the way Slovakia is going to use €5.8 billion from the EU's Recovery plan.
The co-governing For the People party's view of reforms is different in some areas from that of the Finance Ministry, party leader and Investment Minister Veronika Remišová said on Monday. For example, the party has a fundamental problem with the proposal that a key part of public university management should be exercised by the state, local governments and employers via administrative boards. "We can see what bad condition many state-run and self-governing institutions are in, and so we view more state in university bodies neither as a reform, nor as a path to higher quality in universities," said Remišová. She views the draft reform plan as a basis for discussion in society. She said that her party will present its priorities in the area of reforms next week.
On Tuesday the other junior member of the governing coalition, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, announced that it will try to have a levy bonus, a flat tax, a sustainable green economy and an improvement in the status of sport in the country included in the reform plan.
"The reform document that was introduced on Monday by Finance Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) is nothing but another manifesto from the Government, as it doesn't provide any answers to the question of how the Cabinet will spend money from the EU in 2021-23, while at the same time it doesn't contain anything that would be related to the coronavirus pandemic," according to head of the opposition Smer-SD party and former Prime Minister Robert Fico. He thinks there's a risk that the resources won't be depleted and the Government should start holding talks with representatives of Slovak industry on how it can help them when it comes to innovations and boosting competitiveness.
The extra-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia (PS) party criticised the fact that the plan doesn't react to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In its opinion, the document could be characterised as "a wide range of various solutions". "The reform plan was supposed to have the potential to propel Slovakia forward. It was supposed to draw up a vision of a country that would have an opportunity to beat the competition and become a leader in several areas that will undergo significant changes in the next twenty years. This opportunity has been missed," noted PS head Irena Bihariová.
The final version of the reform plan must be submitted to the European Commission by April 30th, 2021 at the latest.
