Q. Mr. Dzurinda, your government
is know has the government of reforms. Could you tell
us about your priorities with regards to these reforms
and the direction that these reforms will take?
A. My previous cabinet received the objective of being
an integration government and I would like my current
government to be called the reform government. There
are five fundamental reforms ahead of us: the social
system reform which is on the way; the pension system
reform which is about to start; the tax reform which
is due to start on the 1st of January of next year;
the reform of the higher education institutions; and
the health care sector reform. But I want to spend time
talking about additional sector reform such as agriculture.
The purpose of all these reforms is to make sure that
Slovakia becomes an effective and competitive economy,
making it more attractive to foreign investments and
so that the standard of living continues to grow.
Q. You mentioned that your government wants Slovakia
to become more attractive for foreign investors. What
incentives have you put in place to make foreign investments
easier?
A. During the last election term we voted a number
of laws such as the act on investment incentives, the
act on industrial arts, the act on state aid to the
development of infrastructures. When I took the office
as Prime Minister, the corporate income tax was 42 per
cent. Currently it is 25 per cent and will decrease
to 19 per cent. The purpose of the tax reform is to
unify the tax rates and introduce a so called "flat
tax". We will also align and unify the rates of
the Value Added Tax (VAT), and so starting next year,
we will have one uniform VAT rate. In fact we want to
stimulate those that are active and thus we want to
supervise streamline tax administration to reduce the
burden of taxation and mandatory payments to social
security and other institutions. We want to cut down
on bureaucracy quite substantially and the flat rate
will eliminate potential miss uses of the system.
Q. When you mention a uniform tax rate that brings
to mind the "acquis" of the European Union
which candidate countries must strive to achieve. Five
years ago I had the opportunity to visit Bratislava
and back then I saw people driving small Skodas. Today
they are driving big Skodas, thus demonstrating the
important changes the country has gone through in these
five years. But I think it will change even further
now with the historic treaty signed in Athens ratifying
the entrance into the European Union. How do you evaluate
the potential advantages that this will bring to the
country on a long term basis?
A. First of all I feel urged to say that when you will
come and visit Slovakia five years from now, we will
be driving big Peugeots and Citroens. The most important
thing about the integration process is that the resulting
unification of Europe will reinforce the peace dimension
of the continent. It is certainly important also that
the market will expand quite substantially and that
Slovakia will be granted access to the structural funds
and other opportunities all of them being important.
But clearly, peace and security are the most important
attributes. Maybe you the French do not attach that
significance to these two attributes but we the Slovaks
have gone through so many difficult times this past
century and lets not forget that Europe gave birth,
if I may use those words, to two World Wars. Also lets
not forget about the weighting of communism in this
part of Europe. On the day when I was born, my father
was sacked from school because he refused to become
a member of the communist party and because he refused
to cooperate with the secret service. And back in 1968,
we were salvaged by the Russian troops and the allied
countries and therefore we deeply appreciate peace and
the chance. This is what the unification of Europe is
mainly about.
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Q. Peace and Stability
is certainly one of the pillars of the European Union
and one of the fundamental reasons why the European Union
was created in the first place. In this sense don't you
see a dichotomy at the sources in the sense that we have
a number of European leaders going one way and others
going the opposite way, as we saw for example with the
Iraqi War?
A. I think that what may appear as dichotomy or contradiction
in fact is not contradictive because different perspectives
on the war on Iraq does not necessarily imply differences
in opinions on how to ensure peace and stability and
I am personally deeply convinced that the interest Europe
and the United States are not contradictory quite on
the contrary I am sure that it should be in the strategic
interest of Europe to strengthen and further develop
the transatlantic alliance. I think that the common
security concerns of the EU should neither compete nor
duplicate the transatlantic security concern.
Q. How would you qualify the relations between Slovakia
and France at the moment?
A. Very good. Actually a couple of minutes ago I received
a delegation from a picturesque town not far from Paris,
Meudon and I was very happy to meet again with the same
Mayor and deputy Mayor who I first met back in 1999
as a Prime Minister when I visited the town. And I am
also grateful to them for cooperating with us in sculpting
the statue of General Milan Rastislav Stefanik, a French
scientist who used to work in the observatory of Meudon.
In fact, France has issued this year a postal stamp
featuring Milan Rastislav Stefanik cofounder of the
Czechoslovak Republic who lived and worked quite some
time in France in the beginning of the 20th century.
My agenda today is really tight but I've made sure to
have the time to meet these people and I was very happy
to have this meeting. It is very important to develop
bilateral cooperation not only between the countries
and their representatives but also at a lower level
with the Communities and their citizens. Meudon is developing
relations and friendly cooperation with another picturesque
town located in the central part of Slovakia. Two days
ago I met with the Prime Minister of France and I am
very happy about these gifted frank relations that we
have with the French Minister and I am holding my fingers
crossed for him as he undergoes reforms. The decision
of PSA Citroen to make investments in Slovakia only
underscores the quality of our relations. I am not going
to convince myself additional French investors to come
here and invests as I will tell them to go see PSA Citroen
as Slovakia has become part of the francophone community.
More and more young people in Slovakia are French literate.
I am under the impression that the Slovak French relations
are excellent and that they are free and clear of any
past burdens and that the potential for development
is excellent. "C'est une bonne nouvelle pour mon
pays".
Q. I understand you are a marathon runner. How would
you compare marathon and politics?
A. I would draw a number of parallels between both
of these activities because politics is about long distances
and it is very important, to be patient and to think
over a certain time horizon. Both good politics and
a marathon run are about the will. In fact I have written
so far only one book and its title is "Where there
is a will, there is a way" because you cannot be
good without the will both in politics and marathon.
When you reach kilometre number 35 and you think you
cannot go further it works and you have to mobilise
it inside yourself. Just like in the current coalition
were are 4 members, before we were 11 members. When
you think that it's stuck and that it cannot go further,
you have to be persistent in finding the way out. By
the way I have never run the Paris marathon but if the
god's is gracious enough to keep my state healthy, we
will see each other at the Paris marathon.
Thank you very much
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HE Mikulas Dzurinda