ABSTRACT
The information on rewards to high public officials, both political and top career civil servants in Slovakia together with local officials’ salaries and bonuses were made publicly available from January 2006 through the Free Access to Information Law. This was an historical moment that concluded the debate on the transparency of HPOs’ rewards. Following the many questions on transparency, accountability and trust in the 15 years of transition to democracy, this amendment was part of a bigger reform that sought to redefine accountability systems to provide specific safeguards against abuses of power by either politicians or civil servants. Yet, even this change seems short-lived. In December 2007, the judge of a regional court in Bratislava, petitioned by the Ministry of Justice, asked the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of a 2006 ‘salary’ amendment, arguing that free access to the salary data of public officials violates their privacy rights in the Slovak constitution.
