The public in Slovakia is moved by suspicions of the non-transparent handling of state and European money. Almost every second Slovak considers the cases of the purchase of the former Voderad outlet and Eurosubsidies for strange pensions to be so serious that political responsibility should be brought for them.
This is shown by a survey by the Focus agency for the website 360tka.sk from the beginning of February on a representative sample of 1,014 respondents. The topic was two cases:
• Slayáda (purchase of an abandoned outlet near Voderady by the state for 17 million euros) and
• Haciendas/guesthouses (euro subsidies for buildings such as Villa Amonra or Fafokan Mansion).
The public is demanding political consequences
The survey results show that people in Slovakia are more sensitive to the issue of Eurosubsidies for the development of agritourism. While in the case of slayád, 46% of respondents demand political responsibility towards the people or parties that rule the country, in the case of haciendas and boarding houses, it is exactly 50%.
Only a negligible part of the population (5-6%) agrees with the opinion that it is nothing serious, because other governments have had similar cases. However, a significant part of the respondents (almost 30%) had not yet heard about the cases or could not comment on them.
The poll also showed a wide gap between coalition and opposition voters. Sympathizers of the Democrats, SaS and Progressive Slovakia parties perceive the cases most critically.
Angry and uninformed voters
Opposition supporters are calling for punishment: Among Democrats and SaS voters, more than 80% of respondents demand that consequences be drawn in both cases. It is the same with PS supporters, where criticism reaches almost 80%.
Smer voters – a third do not know, have not heard: Supporters of the government Smer show the highest level of lack of information (30-37% do not know/have not heard). Only 19% (slayáda) demand political consequences for the government, or 25% (haciendas) of them.
Voice and SNS somewhere in the middle: Voice voters are divided – around a third want accountability, while another third see it as a problem that needs to be solved without “heads falling”. A similar picture is provided by SNS voters.
It turns out that the case of haciendas/pensiones irritates voters of all parties a little more than “slayáda”. The only exception is Hlas voters, who are somewhat more conciliatory in the case of pension subsidies than in the case of purchasing an outlet.
Followers of KDH and Hnutia Slovensko: The voters of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) perceive the cases very strictly. As many as 59% of them demand political consequences for pensions, while not a single respondent from this group stated that it was a banal matter. Voters of the Slovak Movement are equally consistent in their criticism, with more than half of them (57-62%) demanding a political tax for procurement and subsidies.
