Archive of articles - May 2010, page 8
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Slovak parliament postpones closing session and awaits Hungarian action on dual citizenship
The last session of Slovakia’s parliament scheduled for Wednesday, May 19 to ceremonially conclude the four-year election term will not take place. Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška cancelled the planned session after Prime Minister Robert Fico asked him do so at a session of the country’s Security Council, the SITA newswire wrote.
Inflation rate in Slovakia accelerates to 0.7 percent in April
Slovakia’s consumer prices, as measured by the European Union’s Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased in April, the SITA newswire reported. Year-on-year inflation in March was 0.3 percent compared to the historical low of minus 0.2 percent reported for February and then increased further to 0.7 percent in April. But the average twelve-month inflation rate was unchanged at the historical low of 0.3 percent posted in March.
Ondava River breaks its dam in eastern Slovakia but situation seems stable
The Ondava River in eastern Slovakia broke through its dam in the early morning hours of May 18 near Zemplínske Hradište, the Sme daily reported. The Ondava dam has a crack 30 metres wide and is sending its water into the fields between the Ondava River and the dam of the Trnávka River above their confluence.
Third-level flood alerts announced for the Morava and Myjava rivers and Košice
The level of the Morava River which runs along Slovakia's borders with the Czech Republic and Austria reached 459 centimetres in Kopčany in the far west of Slovakia on the morning of May 17, triggering a third-level flood alert, the TASR newswire reported. Slovakia’s biggest river by volume, the Danube, is still below the first flood-alert level.
Nováky municipality welcomes decision to sell NChZ – but only as a whole
According to Ján Martina, the head of the local government in the town of Nováky, the municipality welcomes the decision of creditors of Nováky Chemical Works (NChZ) to try to sell the company, which went bankrupt in October, he told the TASR newswire on May 17. According to Martina, it is important that the situation of NChZ be stabilised because the chemical works are the town’s important strategic partner and a significant payer of real estate tax. He added that it is necessary to sell the company as a whole because that is the only guarantee of preserving the employment of approximately 1,800 people, many of whom live in Novaky.
Slovakia holds auction to sell bonds worth €108.5 million
Slovakia sold additional government bonds in an auction held on May 17. The auction offered six-year government bonds from the series No. 213 maturing in February 2016 for €108.5 million, the SITA newswire reported.
Ryanair cancels flights from Bratislava to Dublin and Bristol; LOT starts Warsaw service
Flights operated by Ryanair from Bratislava’s Milan Rastislav Štefánik Airport (BTS) to the Irish capital Dublin and the British city of Bristol were cancelled on May 17 due to ash from the Icelandic volcano, the TASR newswire reported. “Air carriers haven’t told us about any further flight cancellations. The situation is developing, however, and further flights may be cancelled during the day,” BTS spokesperson Dana Madunická told TASR. Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano paralysed air transport across Europe at the beginning of April. Slovakia had to close its airspace for several days.
The Week of New Minorities
The Week of New Minorities, May 17 to May 23, is a celebration of diversity, tolerance, and multi-culturalism. Its seven days are devoted the newest minorities living in Slovakia.
The week in Slovakia
Content of programme: Budapest boosts Slovak nationalists; Roma abuse case moves to trial; Flood warnings issued nationwide; Economy shows signs of life; Beaver rescued, penguin dies
Smer to sue Sme and Nový Čas for news reports on alleged illicit deal
The main governing party Smer and its onetime marketing wizard, Fedor Flašík, announced on May 15 that they will take legal action against the Sme and Nový Čas dailies for their reports that day that alleged Flašík had made an illicit deal with a wealthy entrepreneur, the TASR newswire reported. The alleged deal between Flašík and energy entrepreneur Ľubomír Blaško would have secured senior posts in the state administration for people close to the latter person in reward for a €1-million donation for Smer, the newspapers wrote.
Slovakia’s Foreign Affairs Minister comments on Hungary’s dual citizenship bill
According to Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, the amendment to the Dual Citizenship Act that Hungary is planning to adopt offers no advantages to ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia and will only bring legal uncertainty as regards their citizenship status. “The Act offers nothing to our citizens. It grants them no rights, no advantages, which they, as citizens of Slovakia, wouldn’t be able to enjoy now. What it offers, in fact, is legal uncertainty as a result of the theoretical possibility of being attached to two countries in terms of citizenship status,” said Lajčák to the TASR newswire, adding that this would give Hungarian governments a tool with which to bolster institutional ties with ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary. Lajčák stressed that if the Hungarian side is going to speak about toning Hungarian identity, the question of the related cost arises. The diplomat also said that Slovakia's objections are of a highly pragmatic nature, as the amendment’s wording has dropped the condition that those who want to claim dual citizenship must be permanent residents of Hungary. He stated that Slovakia also has “substantial political objections”.
Recent poll shows Smer winning election with 38.4 percent of the vote
If the parliamentary general election had been held in April, the winner would have been Sme, the top coalition party, with 38.4 percent of the vote, according to a poll carried out by MEDIAN SK between March 29 and April 25 among 2,117 respondents, Jindřich Bardon of the agency told the TASR newswire on May 14. The main opposition party, the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), would have come second with 15.3 percent and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) would finish third with 11.5 percent. The Slovak National Party (SNS) was next at 9.1 percent, the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) had 7 percent, and Freedom, and Solidarity (SaS) on 6.2 percent. No other party would have reached the 5-percent threshold required to gain seats in Parliament. The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) would have come closest with 3.3 percent, followed by Most-Híd at 2.7 percent, the Slovak Communist Party (KSS) at 1.9 percent, and the Party of the Democratic Left (SDL) at 1.2 percent. Only 34.7 percent of the respondents in the poll said they would definitely have voted.
Severe weather hits various parts of Slovakia
Bratislava, Banská Bystrica and Košice regions have been hit hardest by the late spring storms over the past weekend, the TASR newswire was told by Silvia Jančovičová, the spokesperson for Slovakia’s Fire and Rescue Brigade Presidium (HaZZ) on Sunday, May 16.
Mortgages
In Slovakia, banks must have a license to provide mortgages. The banks most active in this segment are: VÚB, Tatra Banka, Slovenská Sporiteľňa, ČSOB, OTP Banka Slovensko, Volksbank Slovensko, Dexia Banka, and UniCredit Bank.
Simpler transfers of bank accounts
DEMAND by bank customers for simpler and easier transfer of their current account from one bank to another, a feature introduced by the Slovak Banking Association in early November 2009, is so far just lukewarm. Štefan Frimmer, spokesperson for Slovakia’s biggest bank, Slovenská Sporiteľňa, said in late April that interest in the feature was negligible as measured by the number of accounts cancelled and reopened with another bank. Frimmer added that experience from abroad confirmed that clients do not switch banks en masse. Other Slovak banking houses also reported only a limited migration of customers, the SITA newswire wrote.
Supreme Court sues Rádio Expres
THE SUPREME Court, as an institution, has filed a lawsuit against Rádio Expres, claiming that the station falsely reported that the Supreme Court had spent €32,700 on refurbishment of the bathroom used by its president, Štefan Harabin.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
The Battle of Košice restaged in Ťahanovce
ON MAY Day, the Club of Military History (KVH) Cassoviacorps carried out a historical re-enactment of the 1945 Battle of Košice. The show took place on the premises of a former factory near the Košice suburb of Ťahanovce.
When 'bias' isn't bias
SOME decisions made by Slovakia’s broadcast licensing authority would be quite entertaining if they were not being made by a regulatory body that wields considerable power over the country’s electronic media. If one thought that the highlight of the licensing council’s recent performances was its suggestion that a couple of on-air sentences spoken in English on a Slovak TV show was a violation of Slovakia’s controversial State Language Act, the council has now shown it can do even “better”.
Business loans fell in 2009, but market is reviving
THE GLOBAL economic crisis strongly affected Slovakia’s small, open economy. Slovak manufacturers, who typically export a large proportion of their production, were left without new orders, but with old loans. As a result, the volume of bad loans increased markedly. In response to worsening payment discipline by clients and the negative economic outlook, banks tightened requirements on businesses seeking new loans, leading to growing dissatisfaction among businesses and complaints that they were being denied access to financing. The volume of business loans provided decreased during 2009, something which banks attribute in part to a decline in demand from companies. However, the latest signals from the business sector suggest a revival.
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- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
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- 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
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- 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 ›
