Archive of articles - March 2008, page 8
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Mečiar: I agree with Fico on new structure of authority at SPF
Governing-coalition LS-HZDS Chairman Vladimír Mečiar said on March 17 that he had agreed with Prime Minister Robert Fico at their meeting the day before about the new management structure at the scalndal-ridden Slovak Land Fund (SPF), the TASR newswire wrote.
Paška: Next parliamentary session to include vote on Lisbon Treaty
Slovakia's Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paška commented on March 17 that he planned to call a vote on the Treaty of Lisbon for the next parliamentary session on March 26 – if the motion enjoys the support of at least 90 (out of 15O) MPs, or a three-fifths majority, the TASR newswire wrote.
Fire quickly extinguished after explosion at main gas pipeline
Emergency workers managed to put out a fire at around 7.30 a.m. on March 17 following an explosion on Slovakia's main gas pipeline in a forest near the village of Slanec, in the Košice district, at around 5.45 a.m.
Gašparovič to accept credentials of four new ambassadors
Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič on March 17 accepted the credentials of new ambassadors from Panama, Namibia, Tanzania and Vietnam, SLOVAKIA was told by the Presidential Office’s press department.
How Did We Live?
Bratislava is hosting another exhibition with a question mark in its title. Following the photo exhibit “Lost Time?” at the Slovak National Gallery, the Slovak National Museum (SNM) has prepared an exhibition to map the development of Slovakia during the previous century.
Analysts: Record high growth in 2007 won’t be matched this year
The Slovak economy grew at a record-high rate last year, but analysts are expecting a moderate slowdown in 2008.
Better than Andalusia
AFTER spending time last fall in Spain’s Andalusia region – where tapas are as ubiquitous as cabbage in Slovak cuisine – I was eager to compare the food there with Rambla, Bratislava’s new tapas bar and restaurant.
Parliament continues debate on authoritarian Press Code
The controversial draft Press Code remains on the parliamentary agenda, despite a vow from the political opposition that it will block approval of the EU’S Lisbon Treaty unless the wording of the bill is changed to bring it into line with democratic standards.
Slovakia joins Schengen zone and borderless Europe
A t midnight on December 21, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák and the Mayor of Schengen in Luxembourg, Roger Weber, lifted the barrier at the Slovak-Austrian border between Bratislava and Berg to the strains of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Slovakia thereby became a member of the Schengen zone, a passport-free travel area within the EU. Several thousand people turned out to celebrate the event.
“Willingness to learn” Mác’s business edge
JURAJ Mác, a mild, fast-talking man in his late 30s, is the driving force behind Metalurg. He grew up in a middle-class family in a housing project in the Karlová Ves suburb of Bratislava, the son of a pharmaceutical employee and a water and sewers official. Even while in school, he says, he always had odd jobs to earn money on the side, from a paper route, to stocking shelves in the country’s first privately-owned grocery store, to cleaning wagons in a brick works.
Three youths charged in murder of Daniel Tupý
Almost two and a half years after student Daniel Tupý was murdered in Bratislava, police announced in February that they had charged one man with the killing while two others have been charged with assault. A fourth suspect, a member of a violent organized crime gang in the Lamač suburb of the capital, committed suicide before the arrests were made.
Four MPs quit KDH
Vladimír Palko, František Mikloško, Pavol Minárik and Rudolf Bauer announced on February 21 (below) that they were leaving the opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) because they had lost faith in the party’s leadership, especially KDH chairman Pavol Hrušovský. Political analyst Grigorij Mesežnikov said that their departure could lead to more defections.
Eurostat: Slovakia’s Q4 GDP growth highest in the EU
The gross domestic product (GDP) of the European Union increased 2.6% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2007, according to the European Union’s Statistical Office (Eurostat). In a quarterly comparison, this figure was up by 0.5 percentage points. Economic growth in the 13-strong Eurozone was 2.3% in the monitored period, up 0.4 percentage points compared with Q2.
Government talks tough about SPP privatization
A government analysis of the sale of the SPP gas utility claims that the sales contract was invalid. The report, tabled in February, argued that an expert appraiser should have valued the assets to be sold before the contract was signed. Because this had not been done, the report’s authors speculated that the SPP privatization contract could be invalid, and the state could still be the owner of 100 percent of SPP’s shares. The report even cast doubt on other privatization sales as well.
People are the key (Advertorial)
Each of us sometimes eats out and doesn’t matter if we go to expensive restaurants or just for fast dinner at the corner. We all eat and a place somehow impresses us. If you are the one who doesn’t look for the right place to meet your fiancé’s parents or to talk to your friends, if you don’t care if you will have a calm table, eat a delicious meal and drink fine wine with people you like; if you are the one who comes to a restaurant every single day, if you check whether forks are clean and a waiter keeps smiling. If you are the one whose job is to manage all this stuff, offer delicious meal, fine wine and make gorgeous atmosphere for all those people who eat and spent time in your place…the only thing you care is to make all those people come back again. If you are a manager or an owner of the place you surely know that a clean fork is just a small part of a successful restaurant. This all is about people; people to people.
ContourGlobal to build a steam-gas cycle power plant in Slovakia
A new steam-gas power plant is to be built next to the Coca-Cola factory in Lúka, near Nové Mesto nad Váhom. Coca-Cola Slovakia spokesman Marián Pavelka said that the plant would be built by ContourGlobal at a cost of about Sk500 million.
Bríza fired from Land Fund
MPs from the opposition SDKÚ-DS party, Pavol Frešo and Lucia Žitňanská, submitted a draft revision to the Act on Land Arrangements to parliament on January 11. The draft required the Slovak Land Fund (SPF) to make public the deals it had signed transferring ownership of land to private companies close to the government.
Financing Austrian real estate
Some Slovak buyers are surprised to find that the final purchase price of real estate in Austria may be up to 10% higher than the list price, as it includes the real estate agent’s fee, a 3.5% real estate tax, a 1% fee for recording the sale in the land register, and 2% for the public notary’s fee. Real estate agents commonly inform buyers of all the supplementary fees before a binding offer is submitted, however.
Gašparovič signs act on Euro introduction
President Ivan Gašparovič on December 13 signed the Act on the Introduction of the Euro in Slovakia, a “general law” underpinning the adoption of the new currency that had been approved by parliament on November 28. The act regulates currency circulation and pricing, and sets rules for rounding off prices in changeover calculations, as well as for exchanging Slovak crowns for euros after the Slovak currency is no longer valid.
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- From eight to thousands of runners. How Košice marathon rose to prominence Photo
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Iconic Slovak barn still draws crowds. Without donors, it might have been lost Photo
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
- He designed Gatwick. But this is his masterpiece
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- The law changed. Our family papers were ready. Now my kids are Slovak citizens
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process More articles ›
