Archive of articles - December 2010, page 3
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State drops €15m Interblue claim
SLOVAKIA will not attempt to force Interblue Group to pay the €15 million it says it is owed by the firm based on the murky sale of the country’s excess carbon dioxide emissions quotas in 2008. Interblue was supposed to have paid the money if Slovakia used the original proceeds from the sale to fund green projects.
Orbán visits Slovakia, briefly
OPEN and focused on facts. That was how both the Slovak and the Hungarian prime ministers described the atmosphere during their brief meeting on December 14 in Bratislava, at which Hungary’s Viktor Orbán promised to return for an official visit during the first half of 2011. It would be the first official visit between the two countries at the prime-ministerial level since Mikuláš Dzurinda visited Budapest in 2001. Despite the positive comments of the prime ministers, the recent meeting showed that bilateral relations between the two countries are still thorny.
Letter from the publisher
Dear readers, Every year, when the editorial team of The Slovak Spectator starts working on the very last issue of the year, compiling a review of the most important political and economic happenings, we all look back and think about all the challenges we have faced and what it took to make it through 2010 while preserving all our products and guarding the spirit of our publishing house.
Parliament makes English compulsory
ENGLISH will become a compulsory part of Slovak students’ curriculum in the next school year, as an amendment requiring it was passed by parliament on December 14. Although no significant objections about the good intentions of the law have been voiced, schools are warning that implementation might prove problematic because they lack qualified teachers.
Slovak pupils lag behind in reading and science
SLOVAK students are lagging behind their peers in reading and in scientific literacy according to a recently published OECD study. The results in reading literacy, the main focus of the current study, have alarmed many parents and educators and the country’s Education Ministry is promising to introduce changes that will lead to improved scores.
A round-up of the year in politics
PARLIAMENTARY and municipal elections, massive political reshuffles, huge flooding, a national belt-tightening programme to rebalance the country’s finances, Europe-wide attention after Slovakia refused to participate in the bailout for Greece, and a tug-of-a-war over public posts are only a few of the entries that will certainly make it into the Slovak history books under the year 2010.
Elections bring change
Slovakia saw its leftist prime minister Robert Fico leave office and move into opposition after a general election held on June 12, 2010. His Smer party’s partner in government, the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), suffered the same fate. The coalition of four centre-right parties which emerged as the eventual winner from the election was expected not only to tackle Slovakia’s ballooning public-finance deficit, but also to address high-profile problems facing the judiciary, non-transparent behaviour by those in power and increasingly tense relations with neighbouring Hungary.
Inflation predicted as austerity bites in 2011
NEXT year promises to be a taxing one for the people of Slovakia, following parliamentary approval of a major austerity package drafted by the government of Iveta Radičová. Its stated aim is to rebalance the country’s public finances, but opinions about how much of a toll it will impose on ordinary taxpayers differs greatly depending on who you talk to. Former finance minister Ján Počiatek insists that 2011 will be burdensome one for the population and that the package will squeeze an extra €300 a year from each family. His successor Ivan Mikloš, who is one of the authors of the package, says the extra bill will be around €110, depending on the income of the family.
Roma minority still an issue
Increased tension in relations between the majority population and the Roma minority also characterised 2010. With parliamentary elections in sight, the first half of the year witnessed many expressions of anti-Roma sentiment on the national as well as the local level. People’s Party-Our Slovakia (ĽSNS), whose roots lay in the outlawed extreme-right Slovenská Pospolitosť (Slovak Togetherness) organisation, held demonstrations across eastern Slovakia to protest against what it described as the unacceptable behaviour of local Roma communities. In some cases, hundreds of people joined these demonstrations.
Language Act takes a ‘less bad’ form
IT TOOK half a year for the new centre-right government to amend the State Language Act, an issue which has disrupted the state’s relationship with Slovakia’s ethnic-Hungarian population and with the government of Hungary as well. Despite removing several provisions that were objectionable to minorities, the amendment retained that part of the law which caused the loudest outcry among ethnic Hungarians: penalties for using a language other than the official state language – i.e. Slovak – in public communications. Some coalition politicians admit that the law remains problematic.
May - The year in business
Investment incentives approved – On May 12 the Slovak government approved investment incentives of €16 million for five companies: Pasívhaus Modul Systeme, Monocrystalex, Sapa Profily, Stawi, and SKH Plastic. These investments were expected to create 468 new jobs.
December - The year in business
GDP growth revised down – The National Bank of Slovakia in early December slightly revised its estimate of GDP growth in Slovakia for 2010, lowering it by 0.1 percentage points to 4.2 percent. The NBS kept its estimate of GDP growth at 3 percent for 2011 and projected GDP growth for 2012 to reach 4 percent. Slovakia’s economy, as measured by GDP, contracted by 4.7 percent over the course of 2009. GDP grew 3.8 percent in the third quarter of 2010 year-on-year, according to the Slovak Statistics Office, following year-on-year GDP growth of 4.7 and 4.2 percent during the first and second quarters of the year.
Third PPP highway project scrapped
THE RULING coalition parties have completely halted the use of public-private partnership (PPP) projects to construct highways in Slovakia. On December 13, Transport Minister Ján Figeľ responded to pressure from other coalition partners who see this method of highway construction as too expensive by cancelling the third PPP project that had been negotiated by the previous government to build and operate parts of the D1 cross-country highway.
New Year’s Eve across Slovakia
TRADITIONAL parties to farewell 2010 and welcome in the New Year are likely to be more modest in many towns and cities of Slovakia because of the uncertain economic conditions and the austerity measures introduced by all levels of government. Nevertheless there will still be many public celebrations on offer for those who prefer to join with crowds of others to see in the New Year.
Party financing cases outstanding
In mid January, Smer boss Robert Fico dug up a long-dormant case concerning the past financing of the SDKÚ and seasoned it with information about what he called money laundering, fictitious firms and tax-haven bank accounts. Fico asserted that the SDKÚ channelled money through foreign accounts supervised by its officials. After Fico’s statements, SDKÚ leader Dzurinda publicly admitted that his party was unable to answer all the questions that journalists were asking about the party’s financing between 2000 and 2004.
A squire from Podhradie
FOR CENTURIES Slovakia was part of the Hungarian Empire. In the 9th and 10th centuries when the kingdom was being established, power became more concentrated in the hands of the Hungarian nobility. Although older chronicles mention members of the Slavonic aristocracy having a certain share of power at an earlier point in history, this later ceased to be true and the highest nobility, with few exceptions, were of Hungarian origin.
October - The year in business
Customers shunned mandated banking product – Banks in Slovakia were obliged to offer customers a ‘basic banking product’ beginning in October but the idea failed to attract many customers, with the banks saying that the mandated package was unnecessary and poorly designed. The banks priced the package higher than similar services they offered and promoted, claiming that the higher fees were required because of the kinds of services that had to be included in the package. The previous government had instructed the banks to offer this ‘basic banking product’ – defined as an identical package of services across all banks – with the aim of helping customers to better understand banking fees and to gain easier access to services connected to their current account.
September - The year in business
VAT increased – On September 3 the cabinet approved a 1 percentage-point hike in Slovakia’s value added tax to 20 percent beginning in 2011 as part of the government’s austerity package. VAT will remain at that level until the public finance deficit falls under 3 percent of GDP. The proposal was subsequently passed by parliament and is one of several measures designed to save the state €1.7 billion through a combination of tax increases and expenditure cuts.
April - The year in business
Seagle Air filed for bankruptcy – Air carrier Seagle Air admitted it was in default and filed for bankruptcy at the Banská Bystrica District Court in early April. Following the demise of SkyEurope (in 2009) and Air Slovakia, Seagle Air became the third air carrier to disappear from Slovak skies.
Trade unionists walk out of negotiations on Labour Code changes
Representatives of the Trades Unions Confederation (KOZ) on Thursday, December 16, walked out of a session of the commission for drawing up a new version of the Labour Code after what KOZ vice-chairman Vladimír Mojš called the Labour Ministry's failure to come up with a coherent set of proposed changes, the TASR newswire reported.
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- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- 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
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Last Week: Slovakia’s central bank governor still faces bribery case verdict
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- Show me your moves! Slovak hockey stars share their best pick-up lines
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- 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
- 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 ›
