Archive of articles - February 2010, page 10
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Nordic culture fans have reason to cheer in 2010
ALTHOUGH Nordic countries often evoke images of freezing weather and barren lands, the cultural calendars of their Slovakia-based diplomatic bureaus is chock-full of hot dates.
New ways to enhance Swedish-Slovak relations
AS THE SWEDISH government announced in January that it will close its embassy in Bratislava later this year, along with another four of its embassies in EU countries, it was emphasised that space remains for developing new forms of bilateral contacts within the existing framework of close cooperation between Slovak and Swedish partners. Since the announcement also contained a general reference to possible further changes in the Swedish presence abroad, this might appear, to some, as a bold step. This is not necessarily the case.
Valentine 'love note' violates law
AN ADVERTISMENT that is in direct violation of the amended State Language Act has been posted in front of the Culture Ministry.
Diskriminačné žaloby
IMAGINE you’re a Slovak judge. Now imagine you have to pick a group which deserves millions of euros in compensation for its discrimination. Who would you choose? The Roma, the Hungarians, the blind, the poor, gays and lesbians, the physically disabled, and mentally handicapped, those are all good guesses. But the judges’ actual answer defies all imagination – they have picked themselves.
Catholics collect €1 million for Haiti
ROMAN Catholics have collected €1,057,000 to help aid efforts for Haiti as of February 9, the TASR newswire reported. The fund-raising initiative, which was announced by the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia (KBS), took place in all Catholic churches in Slovakia.
Pole takes first place
TOMEK Wolak of Poland has taken home the grand prize of €600 at the Skoč Sy 2010 (“Jump!”) snowboarding competition, followed by runners up Matej Matys of Slovakia and Martin Novák of the Czech Republic, the TASR newswire reported.
Broad centre-right coalition is dead
THE BRAINCHILD of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) – a broad coalition to bring together the centre-right parties before the June parliamentary elections – appears to be dead. While some parties toiling in gardens of centre-right voters agreed to join hands for the general elections, the strongest opposition party, SDKÚ, announced it would run alone after being firmly rejected by the political-freshman party, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS). The Most-Híd party, established by Béla Bugár who left the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) last year, will band together with the Civic Conservative Party (OKS) while the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) has not yet clearly rejected post-election cooperation with Slovakia’s most dominant party, Smer.
Trade surplus of €1.257 billion in 2009
SLOVAKIA’s foreign trade showed a surplus of €1.257 billion in 2009. Exports dropped 19.9 percent on an annual basis to €39.683 billion and imports decreased by 23.6 percent to €38.426 billion.
Jumps in the High Tatras
WINTER seems to be still favouring Slovakia’s skiers and the situation is not expected to change this week. Weather forecasts predict temperatures below zero and more snowfall, with perhaps an additional 20 centimetres accumulating. The big question is whether this will be enough for the higher-altitude ski slopes at Chopok and Lomnické Sedlo to finally have ideal skiing conditions on all slopes. At altitudes of 1,500 metres and higher, temperatures around minus 7 can be expected.
Nordic: General facts
Sweden: General facts
Judges’ lawsuits rile the country
HUNDREDS of Slovak judges have turned to the courts with claims of what they call “wage discrimination”. After an early February ruling by the Bratislava District Court upholding a wage discrimination complaint brought by Judge Ondrej Gaborík of the Trenčín Regional Court and awarding him €90,000 in damages, the mass court claims submitted by the judges are now raising serious concerns about the ethics of some members of Slovakia’s judiciary as well as the potential drain on the state’s coffers.
SNS vice chair says Smer and HZDS violated coalition agreement
Anna Belousovová, the vice chair of the Slovak National Party (SNS) said at a press conference on February 11 that its coalition partners, the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and Smer violated the coalition agreement when they voted in favour of an amendment to the law on universities on the previous day. According to Belousovová, the amendment submitted by Mojmír Mamojka (Smer) interferes with an agenda that belongs exclusively to the remit of the SNS-led Education Ministry.
Independent Slovak MP announces new political party
Independent Slovak MP Milan Urbáni, who was ousted from the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia party (HZDS) in December 2009, announced at a press conference on February 11 that he is the chair of a new centrist party called the Alliance for a Europe of Nations (AZEN), which has been active for around six months, the TASR newswire reported. Urbáni said that the aim of the party is to improve the political and entrepreneurial culture in society and to get into parliament in the elections in June. “It's not a disposable party. We have several dozen members and countless numbers of sympathisers,” said Urbáni to TASR, but declined to respond when asked whether MP Zdenka Kramplová, who was also ousted from HZDS in late 2009, plans to join the new party.
Slovak parliament disrupted by four activists scattering confetti
Four activists disrupted a session of the Parliament on Thursday, February 11, displaying a banner from the House's gallery and scattering paper confetti on legislators voting below, the TASR newswire was told. The civic initiative called 'A Stop to Arrogance in Politics', sported a banner reading “Money is the only thing you're interested in”. “We meant to express our civic attitude to how politicians in Slovakia are motivated in their activities. Their only motivation is money, nothing else,” Adam Kurta, one of the foursome, told journalists.
Slovak Supreme Audit Office sends inspection report on EU funds to the government
The Slovak government received an inspection report on February 10 prepared by the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) on drawing EU funds in 2009. The audit of 211 Slovak public entities using EU funds revealed 1,021 mistakes, the TASR newswire wrote. These mistakes were of various types, from formal imperfections to systematic flaws that could have a negative impact on the efficiency of drawing EU funds allocated to Slovakia. NKÚ carried out its inspection at ministries, implementation agencies, regions, towns, villages and a number of other legal entities. The audit was mainly focused on control processes, use of public resources and compliance with the Act on Public Procurement. According to analyses on drawing European structural funds in 2004-2006, Slovakia had €1.17 billion at its disposal, with the European Fund for Regional Development being the most used.
Slovak parliament rejects proposal for new method of CO2 emission trading
Slovakia’s excess emission quotas will continue to be sold in a direct sale, rather than through so-called climate exchanges or a mediator chosen by a selection procedure, as parliament rejected a proposal to amend the act on emissions trading on February 10, the TASR newswire wrote.
New poll finds HZDS popularity dropping, SaS ascending
According to a survey conducted by Polis Slovakia polling agency, support of voters for a junior member of the ruling coalition, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) shrank for the third month in row, the SITA newswire wrote. The party currently has the support of only 4.1 percent of those polled compared with 5.1 percent in December.
Three Slovak state-run rail companies to merge in 2012
Slovakia’s three state-owned rail carriers are slated to merge into one entity in 2012, as the government on February 10 approved a legislative initiative to merge rail company ZSR, rail passenger transport company ŽSSK and rail freight company ŽSSK Cargo Slovakia into a single entity to be called Slovak Railways, the TASR newswire reported. “First, we have to look into comments made by the Antitrust Office (PMÚ) and complete the financial details as required by the Finance Ministry. We will then be able to handle these comments when the respective act is being drafted,” said Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Ľubomír Vážny.
Finance Ministry ups forecast for Slovak GDP growth in 2010 to 2.8 percent
The Finance Ministry has revised its previous forecast for growth in the Slovak economy in 2010 to 2.8 percent, up from the 1.9 percent expected in the autumn of 2009, TASR learned on February 10.
SDKÚ says decision by SaS to run solo plays into PM Fico’s hands
The opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union party (SDKÚ) on February 10 strongly criticised the decision by the non-parliamentary Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party to run on its own in the parliamentary elections in June, the TASR newswire wrote.
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