Archive of articles - November 2013, page 5
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Regional leaders elected; extremist wins in Banská Bystrica
VOTERS in five remaining self-governing regions, known by Slovaks under the acronym VÚCs, have elected their leaders in the second round of regional elections held on November 23. Banská Bystrica grabbed most of the attention when a right-wing extremist, Marian Kotleba, who has a history of racist statements and acts, won the second-round run-off, according to the official results confirmed by the Central Election Commission on November 24.
VÚC VOTE: Regional leaders elected; extremist wins in Banská Bystrica
VOTERS in five remaining self-governing regions, known by Slovaks under the acronym VÚCs, have elected their leaders in the second round of regional elections held on November 23. Banská Bystrica grabbed most of the attention when a right-wing extremist, Marian Kotleba, who has a history of racist statements and acts, won the second-round run-off, according to the official results confirmed by the Central Election Commission on November 24.
VÚC VOTE: Far-right leader Kotleba wins in Banská Bystrica
VOTERS in the Banská Bystrica Region have elected Marian Kotleba, who has a history of racist statements and acts, to lead the self-governing region, known by Slovaks under the acronym VÚC. Kotleba of the People’s Party – Our Slovakia (ĽSNS), picked up 55.6 percent in the second round run-off and thus defeated Vladimír Maňka, backed by Smer, KDH, SMK, Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Movement for Democracy and the Green Party, who collected 44.3 percent, according to unofficial results published by the Slovak Statistics Office.
VÚC VOTE: Five remaining regional leaders elected; extremist wins in Banská Bystrica
VOTERS in five remaining self-governing regions, known by Slovaks under the acronym VÚCs, have elected their leaders in the second round of regional elections held on November 23. There were few surprises compared to the first round since in the Banská Bystrica the candidate who placed second, Marian Kotleba, who has a history of racist statements and acts, won the run-off, according to the unofficial results published by the Slovak Statistics Office after almost all the votes were counted on November 24.
Fico met Obama in the White House
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met the US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington on November 21. Fico, along with Interior Minister Róbert Kaliňák and Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák, spoke with Obama about US-Slovak partnership, which is “based on shared democratic values and principles”, Fico’s spokeswoman Beatrice Szabóová wrote in a press release. The meeting took place at the invitation of the US government.
Parliamentary committee to verify Jahnátek‘s claims
Agriculture Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek claims not to have known that he owned arable land in his native village of Komjatice; and therefore didn’t declare it in his property declaration as required by law. Now parliament’s conflict of interests committee will look into his claim. “The minister claims that he didn‘t know about it,” said committee Chairman Miroslav Beblavý (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-SDKÚ) as quoted by the TASR newswire. “He‘s explained that he inherited the land in the 1980s-90s, when according to him, he wouldn‘t necessarily have been aware of it." “We‘ll ask the land registry whether they can confirm the minister’s statement that he didn’t know, and whether he wouldn’t obviously have known," Beblavý said.
Skanska cheapest bidder for D3 near Žilina, Doprastav consortium for D1
The cheapest bid for constructing a more than four-kilometre stretch of the D3 motorway – Žilina-Strážov and Žilina-Brodno – has been presented by Skanska at around €190 million. The second-cheapest offer came from Eurovia – almost €255 million – ahead of a consortium of Váhostav-SK, Doprastav and Strabag – slightly less than €259 million. The envelopes containing bids for constructing this D3 stretch were opened November 21. The state had assessed that the stretch may cost some €284 million, the TASR newswire wrote. It is expected that the construction work may take three years. Financed from the state budget, the project includes four bridges and a 2.2-kilometre long tunnel called Považský Chlmec. Apart from the tunnel, another difficult section is a 1.4-kilometre long bridge to be constructed over the Hričovská Priehrada water reservoir. The state expects that 8,800 cars per day may travel this stretch in 2041.
Political analyst Kusý resigns from human rights council
Political analyst and Comenius University professor Miroslav Kusý is no longer a member of the Government Council for Human Rights, Ethnic Minorities and Gender Equality. Kusý resigned due to his personal reservations towards professor Pavol Mešťan, who was appointed as a member of the council by Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák on November 13. “It's ridiculous for me that he was appointed as a member of this particular council. It is as though a vegetarian association accepted a carnivore. It seems unacceptable to me,” said Kusý, referring to the fact that Mešťan was the main ideologue of the Slovak Communist Party after 1968. He is also known for his active fight against Charter 77 which drew attention to human rights violations in the country.
Čižnár: Malinová case to be concluded by end of this year
“We’ll try to wrap up the Hedviga Žáková-Malinová case by the end of the year because the procedure has been unreasonably long,” General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár announced on November 21. With regard to the case, Čižnár said back on June 17 that either there is evidence that she committed a crime or there isn’t.
Regional run-offs to conclude
SLOVAKS will take to the polling stations for the second time in a month on November 23, this time voting for regional governors in the Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Banská Bystrica and Košice self-governing regions (known by the Slovak acronym VÚCs), where in the first round no candidate received a majority of votes. Though Banská Bystrica grabbed most of the attention when a right-wing extremist made it into the run-off, Prime Minister Robert Fico has turned his attention to Trnava by endorsing a Slovak candidate over an ethnic Hungarian.
Nárazník
IF THERE is one bumper (nárazník) you do not want to dent, it’s the one belonging to Štefan Harabin. Firstly, the supreme court boss and former justice minister knows people. Not only are the transcripts of Harabin’s alleged friendly phone conversation with Kosovar drug lord Baki Sadiki well known, he now indicates that his connections with Iranian judges played a role in the release of several Slovak hostages detained for alleged espionage.
Obama meets Fico in White House
PRIME Minister Robert Fico met with US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington on November 21.
Constitutional Court blocks prosecution of a judge
In March 2011, Slovak police said that according to their findings, a prosecutor ,Michal B., cleared the way for a detained man charged with fraud to be released from custody by giving money to a judge, Štefan M. But a Constitutional Court decision November 20 means nobody will likely face prosecution in the case.
Slovakia falls in tax-paying rankings
The Paying Taxes poll made by the PwC company, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which compares 189 countries worldwide, found that Slovakia slightly worsened its position against the previous year.
Changing mobile operators may be free next year
Fees for leaving a mobile operator might soon be a thing of the past as the Slovak Telecommunications Office (TÚ) wants to ban billing the usual fee of €8 for changing clients’ mobile operator.
Lešť one of several sites for international military training
The Slovak army will participate in an international military exercise for special operations called Cobra 2013. Between November 4 and 30, it takes place simultaneously in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.
Ukraine could sign natural gas agreement with Slovakia
The European Union (EU) unblocked an agreement on gas supplies to Ukraine from Europe. This agreement will allow the supply of natural gas to Ukraine through Slovakia – which could reduce Ukraine’s dependence on Russian natural gas. Russia is the largest supplier of gas to Ukraine.
Unemployment fell to 13.66 percent in October
The unemployment rate in Slovakia fell by 0.18 percentage points month-on-month and by 0.03 p.p.s year-on-year to stand at 13.66 percent in October. The unemployment rate calculated from the total number of job-seekers in October decreased by 0.15 percentage points m-o-m to 14.91 percent. Overall, the number of unemployed people in October dropped by 3,993 m-o-m to 402,505, the TASR newswire quoted the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (ÚPSVaR)on November 20. Unemployment went down in October in most regions, with only the Bratislava region seeing a rise of 0.01 percentage points. The Košice region experienced the biggest reduction - by 0.31 percentage points. The highest overall unemployment rate was in the Prešov region, at 19.59 percent. Above-average rates were also recorded in the Banská Bystrica region (18.12 percent) and the Košice region (17.46 percent).
European Parliament approves exemption for Slovakia and Romania
The European Parliament (EP) approved an exemption for Slovakia and Romania that will make it possible for them to draw European funds over three years instead of two [according to the 'n+3' rule that will apply to all states in the next 2014-20 programme period, projects financed by EU funds are required to be contracted, completed, implemented and reimbursed within a maximum of three years following funding approval]. This means that after the end of the 2007-14 programme period Slovakia and Romania will have EU funds available for another three years instead of two, according to the exemption approved November 20. The exemption was pushed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Romanian President Traian Basescu during a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at an EU summit in February of this year. As of July 31, Slovakia had managed to draw only 42.82 percent of the overall package of €11.5 billion from EU funds that were made available in the current programme period. “Slovakia is lagging behind in spending EU funds,” Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) MEP Miroslav Mikolášik said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “We’re almost at the end of the 2007-13 programme period and we’ve drawn less than 60 percent, in some sectors less than 50 percent of the funds, so this is good news for Slovak citizens, regardless of what government is in power. Someone wants to give us money, so let’s use it.”
Ombudswoman files disciplinary complaint against judge
SLOVAKIA’s ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová filed a disciplinary complaint with the Supreme Court against a judge of one of Bratislava’s district courts. It is the first time in 12 years of the existence of the office that the ombudsman has used this authority, the TASR newswire reported.
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- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
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- 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
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- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners More articles ›
