Archive of articles - February 2004, page 12

Now or never

SLOVAK citizens with permanent residence in Slovakia will be able to claim the restitution of farm and forestland until the end of 2004, according to the latest legislation, which took effect on January 1, 2004.This might be the last chance for those who failed to reclaim their property confiscated by the communist regime under the first restitution legislation in 1991, the Agriculture Ministry told The Slovak Spectator.

Big car firms eye Slovakia

Another piece of Mozart

MUSICOLOGIST Pavol Polák just returned from the world's largest festival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music, annually held in the genius's birthplace, Salzburg, Austria, to open the festival he organises in a similar spirit in Bratislava.Still full of emotion from listening to dozens of concerts by top international musicians and ensembles devoted to Mozart's music, Polák seemed as if he could talk for hours about his experience.

Rusko concerned about lobbying

Aristocracy returns to Slovakia

THE ARISTOCRATIC Association of Slovakia, which strives to renew aristocracy in the Slovak Republic, claims that the country is one of the few in Europe where the noble class does not exist.While the aristocracy in western European countries has largely remained intact and retained its original administrative-rank structure (including property ownership), that of the central and eastern European countries is in ruins.

President's letter fake

Longer guarantee for products

Slovakia a future tourist hotspot

Consulting contracts criticised

EXCLUSIVE contracts on consultation services for gas distributor Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP), regional power distributor Stredoslovenská energetika (SSE), and the gas storage company Nafta Gbely are under scrutiny after Robert Fico, leader of the opposition party Smer, fiercely criticised what he called lavish payments.Local media reported last month that SPP had signed three-year deals with its owners, Gaz de France and Germany's Ruhrgas, on consultancy services worth up to Sk400 million (€9.8 million) per year, the news wire TASR reported.

Park Snow - Donovaly

PARK Snow Donovaly is one of Slovakia's best-kept secrets. Set in a deep valley just thirty minutes north of Banská Bystrica, this resort offers something for everyone: expansive snow fields for beginners, intermediate runs over 2,000 metres in length, and excellent off-piste skiing for experts.Like Jasná, Donovaly has both tree-lined slopes and bowl skiing, making it an excellent venue for skiing during low visibility conditions or on clear days

New MEPs to live cheap

SLOVAK deputies and future Members of European Parliament (MEPs) are not only irritated by the fact that they will earn one twelfth of what their Italian colleagues do, they also want the EU, not Slovak taxpayers, to pay their monthly salaries.Because the foreign ministers of current EU member states failed to agree on a new system that would have given all MEPs a set salary of over €8,600 per month, paid from the EU budget, new Slovak members will receive Sk36,000 (€881)

NATO entry in April?

Police look into fake sick leave

The people from the borderlands

WOODEN churches and Andy Warhol may be what most people associate with the Ruthenians. Still, little is known about this eastern Slavic people who have lived in the borderlands of the Carpathian region - "the land of nowhere" as Warhol famously described it - for hundreds of years.According to the latest census in Slovakia, in 2001, 24,201 people identified themselves as Ruthenian, which makes them the country's fourth largest minority

Reader feedback: Heads up Mr. Lipšic

Justice minister opposes more immunity

Four top dogs contend

TWELVE men have announced their candidacies to run for the position of Slovak president. Two contestants withheld their decisions until the very last moment before the January 30 deadline, attracting media attention for the last several weeks.The last two big names for the April 3 elections are Vladimír Mečiar, the controversial ex-PM and chairman of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) party, and President Rudolf Schuster, who is among the top four candidates, according to analysts as well as popular polls.

Reader feedback: Freedom to work in the EU is just a law away

Advisers on Iraqi contracts