Slovak Interim Interior Minister Roman Mikulec, appointed by the largest governing OĽaNO party, did not have top-level security clearance when handling confidential information from NATO and the EU. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Peter Pčolinský of the junior governing Sme rodina believes that Mikulec should have had it.
Nevertheless, Interim Minister claimed that he did not violate the law, stating that he does not need it because he is a minister. "According to the law, I'm a special status individual and thus I don't need security clearance," said Mikulec, claiming that this is also apparent from the National Security Bureau's (NBU) findings after consulting the matter with a NATO official. Meanwhile, former PM and head of the extra-parliamentary Hlas-SD party Peter Pellegrini disagrees. "A minister doesn't need to have security clearance because he or she is legally entitled to handle classified information, but only information coming from Slovakia, not from the EU or NATO," he said.Opposition SaS MP Jana Bittó Cigániková, remarked that it is a serious problem if Mikulec misused his powers.
If Mikulec violated the law, one of the possible outcomes is that Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová would appoint a caretaker government in her reaction. Commenting on this option, Pčolinský stated he expects the president to make a decision before Easter. Cigániková claimed in this regard that if the president decides to appoint a caretaker government, SaS could support the move. Meanwhile, Independent MP and vice-chair of the non parliamentary Demokrati party Miroslav Kollár believes that appointing a caretaker government in the current situation would introduce more chaos than peace, adding that Parliament is more problematic that the incumbent government.
Source: TASR
