The baby and the bathwater.

(From The Slovak Spectator)

Editorial THE FICO government is attacking some of the best work done by the previous Dzurinda administration, and is rightly being resisted by the political opposition, the media, NGOs and the diplomatic community.

The job of defending this work might be easier, however, if they were not marred by such obvious flaws.

The best example of this dilemma is the National Memory Institute.

Its mission to expose the workings of Slovakias security forces under communism and fascism is a noble one.

Pity, then, that four entire files have gone missing from the collection of the StB secret service, and that the former director of the Institute, Jan LangoS, was clearly in the habit of absconding with whatever documents he felt like without letting anyone else know.

The job of countering Vladimir Meeiars argument that the Institute serves no purpose is now all the more difficult.