Archive of articles - page 4 - The Slovak Spectator

Opposition: Broad-gauge railway project endangers 1,500 jobs

Slovakia’s largest opposition party, the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), on May 26 renewed its criticism of a planned broad-gauge railway project to link Russia and Vienna via Slovakia and Ukraine as ‘harmful to Slovakia’.

27. may 2009

Slovak SMK party chairman Csáky to contribute to charity for speeding incident

The chairman of the ethnic Hungarian political party SMK, Pál Csáky, told journalists on May 25 that he would donate €400 to charity, the amount he would have paid as a fine for speeding if he did not have parliamentary immunity, the TASR newswire reported.

26. may 2009

Slovakia’s SMK party holds discussion between leadership and dissidents

Talks held on May 25 between the leadership of Slovakia’s ethnic-Hungarian SMK party and three dissidents within the party - Béla Bugár, Gábor Gál and László Nagy – did not yield results, according to Bugár, reported the TASR newswire.

26. may 2009

Slovak central bank says GDP decline slowed in March

A deep plunge in production and revenues in the first two months of 2009 was reflected in Slovakia's first quarter GDP falling by 5.4 percent year-on-year, but things are turning around somewhat, according to a report prepared by the Slovak central bank (NBS) made public on May 25, reported the TASR newswire. “The data for March showed a slowdown in the drop in the industrial production index and construction production, as well as revenues in industry, the retail sector and the sale and maintenance of vehicles,” reads the report, which was approved by the NBS Bank Council.

26. may 2009

Greenpeace lodges complaint with EC over new Slovak nuclear plant

Environmental organisation Greenpeace told the TASR newswire on May 25 that it has lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Slovakia over the way that the government selected a strategic partner to build a new reactor at the nuclear power station in Jaslovské Bohunice. According to Greenpeace, the Slovak government did not comply with the European Parliament and the European Council’s Guideline 2004/17/ES from March 31, 2004 on procurements in the areas of water-management, energy, transport and postal services when the Slovak state-owned JAVYS company selected Czech energy company ČEZ to jointly build the reactor without inviting tenders for the contract.

26. may 2009

Prime Minister Fico and opposition parties want to save the Slovak Special Court

AFTER the Constitutional Court proclaimed Slovakia’s Special Court unconstitutional on May 20, a wave of negative reactions has arisen among the diplomatic community, lawyers and the opposition. Prime Minister Robert Fico has also said that the Special Court has a role in the country’s judicial system and that his government will attempt to preserve it.

Michaela Terenzani 25. may 2009

Slovakia’s Deputy PM Čaplovič to visit the Vatican

Slovakia's Deputy Prime Minister for a Knowledge-based Society, European Affairs, Human Rights and Minorities, Dušan Čaplovič (a Smer party nominee), left on a three-day working trip to Italy on May 25, said Ľubomír Šišák from Čaplovič's office to the TASR newswire.

25. may 2009

Slovakia’s public deficit compares well among Visegrad Four countries

Slovakia ranked best among the Visegrad Four countries in the ratio of public debt to GDP in 2008, according to data released by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW), the TASR newswire wrote.

25. may 2009

Poll shows majority support preservation of the Slovak Special Court

More than seven out of ten respondents polled want to see parliament adopt a constitutional law or an amendment to the Constitution which would enable the Slovak Special Court, established by the previous government to combat high-level corruption and organized crime, to continue, reported the SITA newswire.

25. may 2009

MPs debate judges’ ruling on Slovakia’s Special Court

Claims that the Constitutional Court's judges were pressed into their ruling on the Special Court are overblown, said the head of the parliamentary constitutional committee, Mojmír Mamojka, an MP from Smer, on public service Slovak Television's (STV) politics show 'O päť minút dvanásť' (Five Minutes to Twelve) on May 24, reported the TASR newswire. His comments related to the Constitutional Court's ruling last week that Slovakia’s Special Court to prosecute cases of corruption and organised crime was set up contrary to the Slovak Constitution. “I've never said that the Special Court's existence (per se) isn't well-founded, but it isn't in the form that it currently takes, that is, with such (salary) bonuses and security clearances by the National Security Office (NBÚ),” said Mamojka, who also asserted that he favours the preservation of the Special Court by adopting a constitutional act rather than by amending the Constitution.

25. may 2009

Slovakia to lose its Special Court

Slovakia's Special Court, which was set up to tackle high-level state corruption and organised crime and which has sentenced one former mayor to five years for receiving bribes, a football referee for three years over corruption, put the boss of the eastern Slovak underworld behind bars for the rest of his life, and heard the case of the acid-bath gang – as its name suggests, one of the country’s most brutal criminal affairs – will cease to exist.

Beata Balogová 25. may 2009

Solivary goes bust

SOLIVARY, a salt-producing company in Prešov, is no longer able to pay its debts and the management of the company has therefore proposed that it submit to bankruptcy proceedings.