Archive of articles - June 2010, page 6
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Net receipts from EU €423.9m in 2009
SLOVAKIA’S net receipts from the EU budget increased last year to €423.9 million, according to the draft final account of the general government sector released by the Finance Ministry. Slovakia received a total of €1.12 billion from the EU last year and paid €695.7 million in national payments and contributions to the EU budget, the SITA newswire reported.
Mečiar’s departure was only a matter of time
ONE day after the official election results were published, The Slovak Spectator interviewed Tim Haughton, a political analyst from the University of Birmingham in England, in one of Bratislava’s cafés. Haughton came to Slovakia a week before the June 12 election after visiting the Czech Republic where he witnessed the election victory of the rightist parties there and he saw a similar election result unfold in Slovakia just a couple of weeks later.
Tax collection lags behind government's budget plan
SHAKY state coffers react quickly to any dip in revenues. Recent news that taxes collected in Slovakia have fallen further behind this year’s budget plan was not welcomed as good news in the country's efforts to keep its public finance deficit under control. The Finance Ministry has delayed releasing its forecast for tax revenues for the year but even without the ministry’s current prognosis, there are mounting doubts about the government’s ability to meet its 5.5 percent deficit target for 2010.
Summer at PSA Peugeot Citroën plant
THE SUMMER production break in the Trnava-based car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën will last a week longer this year.
Vote 2010: Future coalition takes shape
FOUR centre-right parties are saying they are determined to give Slovakia its first government with no former communists. Their confidence is fuelled by the outcome of the parliamentary election on June 12 which left Smer, the party of Prime Minister Robert Fico, with only one other party that appears willing to join with Fico for another four-year electoral term – Ján Slota’s Slovak National Party (SNS). However, Fico, whose party captured 34.78 percent of the vote and 62 seats in the 150-seat parliament, has not yet abandoned the thought of retaining power.
Taking a voyage to ancient Egypt in Bratislava
VISITORS to the Slovak National Museum’s new exhibition at its Archaeological Museum on Žižkova Street in Bratislava can now go back thousands of years to the times of the Egyptian pharaohs. An interactive kiosk called Eternal Egypt was donated to the Archaeological Museum by IBM, the SITA newswire wrote. Rastislav Púdelka, head of the Slovak National Museum along with the CEO of IBM Slovensko, Roman Brestovanský, opened the kiosk for public use on May 31.
French investors tell their stories
AN EXPERIENCED and trained labour force and a fast-developing market offering new challenges; but also bureaucracy, incomplete road infrastructure and inflexibility in the labour force. These are a few of the positive as well as negative observations from French investors doing business in Slovakia. The Slovak Spectator spoke to Eric Rouffet, the director general of civil engineering company Eurovia SK, Pierre Chazerain, the director general of the electricity supplier Stredoslovenská Energetika (SSE), Milan Majtán, sales and marketing director of logistics company Gefco Slovakia and Ľubor Vrlák, the director of life insurance and investment funds at AXA in the Czech Republic and Slovakia about their experiences operating in Slovakia, their future plans, and trends and developments in the markets in which they operate.
Employers want focus on job creation
THE MAIN objective of the new government should be to create suitable conditions for a resumption of economic growth and support the creation of new jobs, says the National Association of Employers (RÚZ). This goal requires changes in the Labour Code and gradual easing of the burden of social and health insurance contributions, which must be preceded by a far-reaching reform of funding for the social system, the SITA newswire reported.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIABratislava BALLET: THE FINAL ballet piece to premier in the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava this season is made in Canada, by renowned choreographer James Kudelka. The piece consists of two choreographies: the neo-Classicist Four Seasons, staged to the music of A. Vivaldi; and the modern Fifteen Heterosexual Duets staged to the music of L. van Beethoven. The next performances will be held at the SND’s historical building on June 26 and 29, with ticket prices ranging from €6 to €13. For more information, please call 02/2049-4290 or see www.snd.sk.
Low Tatras: beauty and blood
THE DENSELY-wooded Low Tatras mountain range stretches for 80 kilometres across Slovakia. Even with its wild nature it has been inhabited by people for many millennia. Probably the oldest evidence is encrypted in the name itself. “Tritri” in ancient Roman Latin means something like “a narrow lane cleared of rocks near the river’s bank”. This old name has several mutations but all of them indicate that Roman legions got as far north as the Low Tatras.
Opposition beckons for Fico and Slota
AN END to dubious tenders, greater transparency, changes to controversial legislation such as the State Language Act, the Press Code and the state citizenship legislation, renewed reform of the education and health-care systems, along with a different approach to the second, private pillar of the country’s pension system: these are all changes that an eventual centre-right coalition government might bring if and when Smer leader and current prime minister Robert Fico gives up trying to form the next government.
Footballers leave for South Africa with good wishes and a special stamp
ON JUNE 8, as Slovakia’s national football team was leaving for South Africa and the World Cup, Slovenská Pošta issued a special postage stamp in honour of the team and the competition. The postage stamp has the motif of a footballer kicking a ball and was printed by offset process on a foil sheet containing two stamps, each with a nominal value of €2.30.
France: General facts
Political system: republic
Slovakia sells bonds worth €110m
SLOVAKIA has borrowed an additional €110 million by selling government bonds. The Finance Ministry's Debt and Liquidity Management Agency (ARDAL) raised the sum in a June 14 auction of government bonds from the No. 213 series maturing in 2016, the SITA newswire reported.
Inflation remained stable in May
INFLATION in Slovakia measured according to EU methodology stood at 0.7 percent year-on-year in May 2010, the same figure as in April, the Slovak Statistics Office reported. Over the previous 12 months, inflation averaged 0.3 percent, the TASR newswire wrote.
Still no end to flood-caused damage
PREŠOV Region continues tallying the damages caused by early June’s floodwaters as well as new floods after a heavy rainstorm that hit the city of Prešov on June 14 resulted in landslides, which put 12 houses in a risky condition and meant four families had to be evacuated due to the threat of further landslides.
New industrial orders grew in April
The volume of new industrial orders in Slovakia continued increasing in April, according to data from Slovakia’s Statistics Office which showed new industrial orders in April growing 35.9 percent to €2.782 billion, the SITA newswire reported. The April growth rate was 0.4 percentage points faster than March. After taking seasonal influences into account, the volume of new industrial orders in April remained unchanged from March.
Pricey but unforgettable
A DECADE or so ago, my son and I attended Bob Dylan concerts on three consecutive nights at three different Chicago venues, and while we heard some of the same titles three times in three nights, we never heard precisely the same song twice.
Some companies with French capital in Slovakia
Alcatel-Lucent, www.alcatel-lucent.sk
Balloons fill the skies over a wet Košice
THE BALLOON Fiesta took to the skies in Košice between June 9 and 13 even though many low-lying areas were still soaked from the heavy rains and flooding from a week earlier.
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- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- 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
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- 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
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
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- 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
- Paris leads, Bratislava trails: European cities ranked on safe travel for children
- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- 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 Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- 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 ›
