- Opposition MP Ján Hargaš called on Samuel Migaľ to stop the restoration of Slovensko.sk.
- Hargaš claims that labeling the renewal of the portal as a strategic investment violates the legislation.
- The Public Procurement Office confirmed that software cannot be a strategic investment.
- In connection with the Slovensko.sk project, Progresívne Slovakia filed a petition with the General Prosecutor’s Office.
It’s time for Minister of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization Samuel Migaľ (independent) to stop his “business” about the renewal of the Slovensko.sk portal. The project in its current form has no political or professional support and it is clear to everyone that it is not a strategic investment. This was announced on Friday at a press conference by an opposition member of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic Ján Hargaš (PS).
He recalled that in February Migaľ had the government approve that the restoration of the portal would be a strategic investment, even though many experts pointed out that it was not in accordance with the legislation. “Strategic investments are large infrastructure projects – roads, railways, hospitals, large constructions. It is glaring and clear to anyone who has read the law that it cannot be software. That is, to everyone except Minister Migaľ,” emphasized Hargaš.
According to him, this week was also confirmed by the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO). “The office concluded that the software really cannot be declared a strategic investment. Even if the software had been installed on some old hardware, it probably would not have met the characteristics of a strategic investment. It simply wiped Migaľ’s arguments off the table,” stated the opposition MP.
At the same time, he reminded that the PS turned to the General Prosecutor’s Office (GP) of the Slovak Republic in this regard last week. “So if the ÚVO didn’t do it, I’m sure the GP will do it in the near future,” announced Hargaš.
Therefore, he once again called on Migaľ to finally stop his efforts around the Slovensko.sk portal. “It’s high time to admit defeat, it’s high time to stop this business. It simply has no support anywhere, this stubbornness does not help anything, you will only continue to embarrass yourself,” added the opposition MP.
On Friday, the ÚVO, in response to media reports regarding the announcement of the Slovensko.sk IT project as a strategic investment, declared that it fundamentally refuses to be an instrument of any political struggle. The office pointed out that the journalist’s question, whether it is only theoretically possible to buy and build hardware for 100 million euros and software for up to 50 million euros, and it cannot only be the software itself, was dealt with by an independent body of the ÚVO – the department of the vice president for strategic agenda, which has not yet supervised this contract.
“The answer sent to the journalist is the opinion of the director of the strategic agenda department, but its full text did not appear in the media reports. Specifically, the finding that the ÚVO is not responsible for the law in question was not published. It is also not for him to comment on such questions. They should be aimed at the government, which can best evaluate the reasons for its decision,” said ÚVO spokeswoman Simona Brejová.
