In the end of September 2023 Transparency International Slovakia took note of the statements of the future Prime Minister Robert Fico about labelling NGOs as foreign agents, although his view of civil society is clearly more inspired by Russia than by the United States. Transparency International Slovakia consider the words of the likely new Prime Minister to be harmful to the society as a whole, as they are based on complete misinterpretation of the role and position of NGOs in Slovakia and in democracy in general. At the same time, they are aimed at artificially creating an enemy or diverting attention away from key problems of the society, such as the underfed health care system, stagnant education system, decaying infrastructure or dealing with corruption cases and abuse of power.
The mission of Transparency International Slovakia is above all to fight corruption and increase public scrutiny, which should be in the interest of the whole society, except maybe for fraudsters. Transparency International Slovakia have also long supported greater transparency in the non-profit sector, for example in the form of mandatory disclosure of NGOs’ financial statements. For over 20 years, Transparency International Slovakia have been publishing information about our projects and their funding on the web, in annual reports and financial statements, where it is easy for anyone to read.
Our activities are also supported by the European Union, Norwegian funds, foundations and embassies of allied countries supporting democracy around the world. At the same time, a substantial part of our budget is covered by contributions from hundreds of domestic individual donors, companies and foundations that are not indifferent to the issues of transparency and fairness in the public sector.
Quite recently, similar attacks on civil society emerged in Georgia, where the government finally backed down on its plans after massive opposition. Transparency International Slovakia are convinced that it is unacceptable for Slovakia, an EU member state, to be in a situation where politicians pursue an approach of creating an enemy out of civil society.
Transparency International Slovakia not yet know the exact structure of the new government, but if there comes a similar attempt as in Georgia, Transparency International Slovakia will use all available legal means against such an attack on civil society. Including by referring to the Constitutional Court, as Transparency International Slovakia consider this form of labelling not only false, but also damaging to the reputation of our organisation as well as other civic associations, i.e. associations of citizens of the Slovak Republic in line with its legislation.
Until the new government moves to a legislative solution to this “problem”, Transparency International Slovakia will rather continue to focus our attention on scrutinising abuse of power, promoting transparency and involving people in decision-making. Transparency International Slovakia would be delighted if you would join this effort in whatever way, too