The end of the period of the Czech opposition agreement in Slovakia took place against the backdrop of the second Dzurinda government, which was formed after 2002. The period marked not only the continuation of important reforms of the Slovak economy or social system, but also the collapse of illusions about the corrupt innocence of the anti-Mechar parties.
It was clear from several leaks that the privatisation was carried out in the interests of the political parties that decided on it. Politicians were so careless that they often did not even hide it. For example, in the Vláčik case from the period in question, MP Peter Kresánek wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and the chairman of his party in one person, in which he said that everything was being done in a way that was in line with the interests of the party.
If anything left an aftertaste in the journalistic community after the government of Mikuláš Dzurinda, it was certainly his constant efforts to invent information campaigns. After bribing journalists before the first elections in which he defeated Mečiar, new and new suspicions of much more serious corruption scandals arose. Dzurinda responded with counterattacks on critics, political opponents and the media. He tried to create the impression that everything that was written about his government in a negative vein was in fact a plot and a counter-strike by dark forces. The highly significant “Groupie” case is related to this.
Mikuláš Dzurinda publicly informed the public that a group of people is operating in the country who are harming his government and the SDKÚ party. He was always obfuscating, adding more stories and never clarifying where he got the information from and which people were involved. Only unconfirmed and apparently orchestrated leaks of lists appeared, which unsurprisingly included some critics and opponents of the government. A classic disinformation campaign is common practice twenty years later, but at the time it was unusual in pro-democracy circles and it also led to the gradual departure of several dissenting members of Dzurinda’s party.
From the economic point of view, the “Branisko” case resonated the most in that period. It was a large infrastructure project to cut a tunnel in eastern Slovakia. A series of suspicions, which were investigated and developed over the next few years, was triggered by the secret service and the Swiss police, who pointed to undocumented income of nominees of the ruling parties in the Slovak Road Administration. The SDKU party treasury itself also had great difficulty in documenting the origin of the funds. The financing of the party, which Dzurinda could not explain, eventually led to his gradual downfall as well.
