President sees no reason to draw political consequences against Interior Minister

President Zuzana Caputova sees no reason to draw political consequences against interim Interior Minister Roman Mikulec, her spokesman Martin Strizinec told TASR on Tuesday.
The president doesn’t agree with the National Security Bureau's (NBS) findings on Mikulec allegedly lacking a certificate for getting access to confidential information from the EU and NATO environment.
"The president doesn’t agree with the interpretation presented by the NBU and, therefore, she sees no reason to draw political consequences against Interior Minister Roman Mikulec," confirmed Strizinec. According to Caputova, ministers, premier, parliamentary chair, head of state and other authorised persons can familiarise themselves with classified EU and NATO information to the extent necessary for the conduct of their powers. According to the law, these persons enjoy a special status by virtue of their posts. "Therefore, they don't need a security clearance to familiarise themselves with classified facts," added Strizinec.
"An incorrect or even absurd interpretation" of the law might lead to the situation that a newly-appointed minister would first have to wait for the top-secret clearance, which usually takes several months, and only then would he be able to fully participate in the meetings of NATO or the Council of the EU or to familiarise themselves with relevant documents, said the president.
"Such an interpretation of rules might paralyse the conduct of powers by individual cabinet members or other special status persons," stressed Strizinec. The head of the state pointed to the fact that Slovakia's legislation in this field is extremely insufficient even after 22 years of the NBU's existence and 19 years of Slovakia's NATO membership. Therefore, she expects the NBU as an authority responsible for the legislation in the area of the classified information protection to initiate the remedy.
Mikulec allegedly broke the law when illegally handling classified information from abroad. NBU head Roman Konecny claims that the minister lacked a certificate to familiarise himself with classified information from abroad. Meanwhile, Mikulec believes he didn't violate the law. At the same time he confirmed that he has already applied for a certificate from the NBU. (TASR)