What started as an argument over some bureaucratic procedures which would allow the Slovak Academy of Sciences' institutes to be officially enrolled in the Registry of Public Research Institutions, turned into a serious conflict involving hundreds of scientists marching through downtown Bratislava on Tuesday, open letters from top scientists and even an opinion from the Prosecutor General's Office. Scientists argue that the current situation prevents them from accessing grants and entering into commercial cooperation. Education Minister Martina Lubyová, who led one of Academy's institutes before becoming a minister last year, says the Academy has not submitted all the required documents in time. According to her, the Prosecutor General's Office called on the Education Ministry to stop the registration process. The further course of action on the issue should be decided by Parliament, said Lubyová. She argues that the prosecutor's office acknowledged that the ministry had the right to properly examine the content of documents presented by individual bodies of the Academy and ask for additional information, which the latter didn't provide on time, however.
Academy President Pavol Šajgalík, asked to see the document from the prosecutor's office. "We're afraid that the ministry has misinterpreted and adjusted the statement to its own purposes. A letter we received from the PG's Office on Monday morning makes it clear that the prosecutor has identified some procrastination on the ministry's part," said Šajgalík. The Academy has sent letters to all 150 members of Parliament, warning that it could even collapse if an amendment on its organisation which is part of a larger law on universities is passed this week. The legal vacuum in which the Slovak Academy of Sciences has found itself has attracted the attention of top officials. On Tuesday President Andrej Kiska received representatives of the protesting scientists. He called on Education Ministry to end the current chaos surrounding the Academy. "We say many times that we want Slovakia to be a modern country not only an assembly line for Western companies. In order to be a modern and prosperous country and to keep young people here, we need cutting-edge science and research," said Kiska.
