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General news released by SITA on Tuesday, June 10

PM Fico Wants Interior Ministry to Focus More on Crime Prevention
Crime rate is often the most frequent criterion used to evaluate the work of an interior minister, police officers, and the whole department, said Prime Minister Robert Fico after an inspection of two years of work of the Interior Ministry. He asked Interior Minister Robert Kalinak to devote more attention to crime prevention and fight against crime. The Prime Minister believes that crime prevention is cheaper than fighting against crime.

Slovak Military Engineers Safely Arrived in Kandahar
The ninth Slovak contingent of the ISAF operation in arrived safely at the air base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Tuesday morning. During the upcoming nine days, a fifty-seven member multifunctional military engineers unit will take over from its predecessors equipment, accommodation facilities and further material, they will get acquainted with their duties and will assume respective functions.

SDKU Doubts Electronic Toll Introduction Deadline for Next Year
Head of the parliamentary faction of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party (SDKU-DS) Stanislav Janis expressed doubts about the January 1, 2009 deadline for implementing the electronic highway toll collection system in Slovakia. Either the toll collection will be introduced as complete or it will not be introduced at all. Mr. Janis also voiced indirect allegations about suspected property links between the firm Ibertax and Robert Fico’s SMER-SD.

Slovak Prime Minister is Looking Forward to the EU Council Meeting
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico expects a “heated discussion" about the political consequences of high food and motor fuel prices at the upcoming meeting of the European Council in Brussels. He said at a meeting with the Slovak Parliament's Committee for European Affairs that it is gradually coming to light that it is not purely objective factors behind prices hikes, as was believed until recently, but also various “speculators.” He wants to contribute to the Brussels discussion on the issue.

Slovakia and Lithuania to Cooperate in Nuclear Energy Issues
Energy and political issues were high on the agenda of Tuesday's meeting of Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic with the Lithuanian head of state Valdas Adamkus. After delegations closed talks and signed bilateral agreements, President Gasparovic stated that the problems of both countries are almost identical in the economic sphere, specifically in the energy sector. Lithuania and Slovakia have to shut down their nuclear power plants.