Archive of articles - March 2009, page 4
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Civic association claims Pension Act amendments are unconstitutional
The recent amendments to the Pension Act approved by the parliament are unconstitutional, said representatives of a civic association called Sporiteľ (Saver) on March 25, as reported by the TASR newswire.
67th anniversary of departures to Auschwitz commemorated in Poprad
On March 25 Slovakia commemorated the 67th anniversary of the departure of the first Jewish girls from Poprad to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, the TASR newswire wrote. Pavol Mešťan, Director of Slovak National Museum - Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava, made a speech at a conference in Poprad to mark the day. From among the thousands of single women and girls, aged 16-30, that were transported to Auschwitz only about 70 survived to the end of WWII and currently only eight of them are still alive. None of the women, however, took part in the commemoration ceremony in Poprad mainly due to health reasons. The ceremony started at 15:30 with the opening of a reconstructed part of Poprad's Jewish cemetery and continued with wreaths being laid at the local train station. Mešťan noted that students from Poprad schools participated in the cemetery's reconstruction.
Court upholds Fico’s defamation case against publisher
The publishing house 7 Plus Company lost another legal round to Prime Minister Robert Fico on March 25 when the Bratislava Regional Court ordered the weekly to apologise and pay him €9,958 in damages for an article attributing personal responsibility to the PM for having an alleged gangland member freed from police custody, the TASR newswire wrote.
Economy Minister seeks extra €33.2 million for car scrapping
The Economy Ministry has recommended that the government consider increasing its financial support for replacement of old cars with new ones - the so-called scrapping contribution, the TASR newswire wrote.
Prime Minister apologises to protester and Radičová
Prime Minister Robert Fico issued an apology on Wednesday, March 25, to opposition presidential candidate Iveta Radičová and to protester Jozef Ťažiar for an incident yesterday in which he publicly accused Ťažiar of being a “paid provocateur of Iveta Radičová.”
Harabin submits controversial amendment to Act on Judges
Justice Minister Štefan Harabin has submitted to the cabinet an amendment to the law on judges, which he says is the most fundamental change to the courts system since 2004.
Teachers could end up being prosecuted says observer
Teachers - who should, according to new legislation, become public officials as of September 2009 - could end up being prosecuted for giving students grades that are considered inappropriate, said Ondrej Dostál, the head of the M.R. Štefánik Conservative Institute in reaction to a new amendment to the Education Employees Act.
Analysts ask: who is fighting election campaign?
The presidential campaign is, according to political analysts, turning into a fight between Iveta Radičová and Robert Fico, the economic daily Hospodárske Noviny wrote on March 25.
Kaliňák asks Austria for explanation over border checks
Slovak interior minister Robert Kaliňák has written to his Austrian counterpart, Maria Theresia Fekter, requesting an explanation for an Austrian police action on Saturday, March 21, in which Slovak passengers travelling on a municipal bus service between Bratislava and the nearby Austrian town of Hainburg on Saturday were subjected to identity checks.
Fico labels protester ‘Radičová activist’
The attendance of Prime Minister Robert Fico and President Ivan Gašparovič at the ceremonial opening of a newly diverted section of the Nitra River in the village of Opatovce nad Nitrou (Trenčín Region) on Tuesday, March 24, was marked by a one-man protest alleging a violation of democracy in Slovakia.
Poll: Smer still most popular party
The largest party in the ruling coalition, Smer, remains the most popular in Slovakia, with the support of 46.7 percent of respondents in a MEDIAN survey carried out between January 5 and March 1, 2009.
Chmel and Rohaly awarded for promoting Slovak-Hungarian relations
Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák and his Hungarian counterpart Kinga Göncz on Tuesday gave former Slovak culture minister and Czechoslovak ambassador to Hungary Rudolf Chmel and mayor of the Hungarian village of Hejce Geza Rohaly awards for being good neighbours when it comes to Slovak-Hungarian relations.
Nitra River redirected to allow more coal mining
The flow of the Nitra River was redirected to a new river bed in Opatovce nad Nitrou in the district of Prievidza on March 24. The redirection was made to open up an area for extraction of brown coal, used for energy purposes. The redirection will enable the mining company Hornonitrianske Bane of Prievidza to continue extracting coals for several more years and give jobs to about 4,000 people in the region, the SITA newswire reported.
Agricultural Minister asks for milk guarantees at EU meeting
Introducing a minimum guaranteed price of milk in the European Union (EU) would create a “safety net” for milk producers and it should be determined based on average production costs of unprocessed cow milk, Slovakia’s Agriculture Minister Stanislav Becík said, as reported by the SITA newswire.
SMER tops the political popularity list in Slovakia
If parliamentary elections in Slovakia had been held during the first two months of this year, nearly two in three people would have participated in them and six political parties would have made it to parliament, according to the results of a public opinion poll conducted by the Median SK agency between January 5 and March 1 on a sample of 1,300 respondents aged 18 to 79, the SITA newswire reported.
Tatra Banka leads in mortgage loans in January
Tatra Banka was Slovakia's leader in providing mortgage loans in January 2009 with a 34.28 percent market share, followed by VÚB bank with 30.87 percent, according to data released by the Slovak Central Bank on March 23. OTP bank was a distant third with 8.21 percent, closely followed by Slovenská Sporiteľňa bank with exactly 8 percent, the TASR newswire wrote. Mortgages arranged in January by all banks stood at a total of €4.85 billion and €4.18 billion was being utilised by the end of the month.
Slovakia signs second agreement for PPP highway projects
The contract for construction of sections of the second package of motorways through public private partnership (PPP) projects was signed on March 23 by the Slovak Republic and the winning consortium of Vinci Concessions and ABN AMRO Highway, the TASR newswire reported. “The issue of motorways is long-term. As you know, in 1998 their construction was suspended. Otherwise, we could have motorways to the border with Ukraine today,” Slovakia's President Ivan Gašparovič said following his meeting with Transport, Posts, and Telecommunications Minister Ľubomír Vážny. He added that the construction of motorways through this second package will bring another 1,500 new jobs, TASR wrote. Vážny stated that it includes the construction of sections of express road R1 involving 53 kilometres overall. The consortium, he said, won the tender with a price of €1.5 billion, with €930 million in investment and the remainder connected with the operation of the construction.
Communist party backs Gašparovič in second presidential election round
The Slovak Communist Party (KSS) is calling on its members and the general public to take part in the second round of the presidential election and to vote for incumbent President Ivan Gašparovič, said KSS chairman Jozef Hrdlička on March 23, when assessing the results of the first round on March 21, the TASR newswire wrote.
Supreme Audit Office unclear about tender investigation report
Slovakia’s Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) did not receive clear answers to its questions about the disputed tender at the Construction Ministry, according to an announcement on Monday, March 23. NKÚ said it had requested answers to certain questions from the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO), which reacted only by referring NKÚ to sections of the Public Procurement Act instead of clarifying the issues for NKÚ, reported the TASR newswire. Lenka Nosálová from NKÚ's press department told TASR that NKÚ will wait for UVO's inspection results now. ÚVO spokesperson Helena Fialova, however, said that her office had received no questions from NKÚ.
Economic downturn expected to hit the telecom sector
UNDER the influence of the global economic crisis, the general business climate has significantly worsened in countries such as Slovakia and this is expected to be reflected in the telecommunications sector. According to an analysis conducted by Deloitte Slovensko, a slowing in the growth of telecom revenues is expected for 2009 in comparison to the 3.7 percent overall growth of the Slovak telecommunications market and the 5.3 percent growth of its mobile services segment recorded in 2008.
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- 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
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- 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
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- 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
- He designed Gatwick. But this is his masterpiece
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- The compass points to Kúty, and people are starting to follow
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- 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
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners More articles ›
