Archive of articles - May 2012, page 8

Slovak film wins award in Houston

THE SLOVAK black comedy Mŕtvola musí zomrieť (The Corpse Must Die) received international recognition with an award at the 45th WorldFest International Independent Film Festival held last month in Houston, Texas.

Opposition parties remain in turmoil

AFTER a weeks-long tug-of-war the centre-right opposition parties in parliament have finally agreed on the distribution of nominations to senior public positions granted to them by the new Fico government. The Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) will nominate the new head of the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO), while Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) will pick the director of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ). Banking sector expert Ján Tóth should become the deputy governor of the central bank, the NBS, while Ľudovít Ódor will become a member of the Fiscal Council; both were proposed as experts by the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ).

Investing in tourism: Attracting tourists

MORE than 3.5 million domestic and international tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in 2011, an increase of 10 percent from 2010, according to data released by Slovakia’s Statistics Office, with the number of foreign tourists having accommodation within Slovakia reaching more than 1.4 million, also a 10-percent increase compared to 2010.

Slovakia wins silver; loses match to Russia

After a match with the Russian ice hockey team, Slovakia gets the silver medal at this year's IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Slovakia lost the final game 6:2 to Russia on May 20.

Slovakia will play for gold

Slovakia has defeated the Czech Republic 3:1 in their semi-final game at this year's IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on May 19.

Slovak cyclist wins fourth stage of Tour of California

Slovak cyclist Peter Sagan won the longest leg of this year’s Tour of California cycle race, retaining the tour leader's yellow jersey. Wednesday's fourth stage, between Sonora and Clovis, was 209.6 kilometres long. In a sprint finish he beat Australians Heinrich Haussler and Michael Matthews.

Slovak demand for airline tickets to Finland skyrockets

After Slovakia's ice hockey team beat Canada in the 2012 Ice Hockey World Championship on Thursday, May 17, Slovak demand for aeroplane tickets to Finland has skyrocketed, the TASR newswire reported on Thursday, May 17, citing Michal Repa, spokesman of the internet air ticket site Pelikan.sk.

Fico demands new opposition nominee for ÚVO

Prime Minister Robert Fico on Thursday, May 17, urged the opposition parties to come up with a new nominee to head the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO) by next Wednesday, the TASR newswire reported.

Slovakia should pay €260m to permanent bailout fund in 2012

Slovakia will have to pay a first instalment of almost €132 million towards the founding capital of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the eurozone's new permanent rescue mechanism, within 15 days of the date when the agreement to set it up takes effect.

All parties agree to scrap MPs' criminal immunity as of September

MPs' immunity from criminal prosecution is likely to be scrapped as of September 1, after representatives of all the parties in parliament agreed on Wednesday, May 16, to amend the constitution to that effect, Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) MP Radoslav Procházka told the TASR newswire.

Professionals in human resources

Professionals in Human Resources

Slovakia defeats Canada in Ice Hockey World Championship quarter-final game

In a shocking result, Slovakia has defeated Canada 4:3 in their quarter-final game at this year's IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship game.

Former agriculture minister denies gag order on staff

Former agriculture minister Zsolt Simon from Most-Híd party allegedly threatened to fire ministry employees if they provided any information about a food-aid controversy, the current Agriculture Minister, Ľubomír Jahnátek, told the TASR newswire on May 16. "Simon knew very well that there was a problem and that sooner or later it would surface. We have transcripts of three recordings from the minister's meetings and they differ from the official meeting minutes," Jahnátek stated, as quoted by TASR newswire, adding that the recordings and transcripts will be passed on to investigators. Simon denied Jahnátek's allegations, saying if anyone should bear the political responsibility for the possible fraud connected with food aid delivery it should be Jahnátek and the new head of the Agriculture Payment Agency (PPA), Stanislav Grobár, Simon stated at a press briefing on May 16.

Visegrad Four defence ministers to meet during NATO summit

The upcoming NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21 will also feature a meeting of the Defence Ministers of the Visegrad Four countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland), Milan Vanga of the Slovak Defence Ministry told the TASR newswire on May 16. "Discussions will mainly revolve around further ways of boosting effectiveness in cooperation between the countries included in the Visegrad grouping and in their capabilities for NATO operations," said Vanga.

Parliament rejects bill from SaS to cut the number of MPs

The number of MPs in Slovakia’s parliament remains the same after parliament failed to advance a constitution bill submitted by Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party to a second reading on May 16 that would have reduced the number of lawmakers from 150 to 100. The bill had the support of only 18 MPs, 11 from SaS and seven members of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities party (OĽaNO).

Government plans to transfer OP funds to create jobs for young people

At its session on May 16, the government approved re-allocation of €345 million from a number of EU Operational Programmes to help create jobs for young people and stimulate economic growth, the TASR newswire reported. "Initially we intended to re-allocate €270 million; however after extensive discussions with ministers we agreed that this would be a good opportunity to use EU funds," stated Prime Minister Robert Fico, as quoted by TASR.

Finance Ministry drops fine imposed on Supreme Court for stymied audit

A special committee of the Finance Ministry has decided to cancel a large fine previously imposed on the Slovak Supreme Court. The fine, of over €33,000, was issued by the ministry under Ivan Mikloš (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ)) on August 2, 2010, after court president Štefan Harabin repeatedly refused to allow Finance Ministry auditors to review the court’s financial affairs.

Survey shows SDKÚ would not make it into parliament

If parliamentary elections were to take place next weekend, the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) led by Mikuláš Dzurinda would not clear the 5-percent threshold necessary to get MPs elected to parliament. According to a telephone survey by the Polis agency, only 4.8 percent of respondents would support the party.