Archive of articles - December 2013
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Gašparovič hints at support for Fico in presidential race
PRESIDENT Ivan Gašparovič is convinced that his successor, to be chosen by the public in March 2014, needs to possess some political experience.
Criminal complaint over pastoral letter filed
A MAN working in the advertising business filed a criminal complaint in connection with the pastoral letter authored by the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia (KBS), which generated controversy by calling gender equality efforts a “culture of death”.
Talks with Rosatom over new nuclear power plant end
THE NEGOTIATIONS with the Russian company Rosatom on its possible entry into the project of the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice are over for now, according to Economy Minister Tomáš Malatinský,
Bodies of Slovak soldiers killed in Afghanistan back in Slovakia
THE REMAINS of the two Slovak soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan shortly after Christmas were brought to Slovakia on the afternoon of December 29.
Regional elections bring extremist to power
The regional elections that took place in November were definitely the biggest political event of the second half of 2013. This was not so much due to the importance of the regional governments or the interest of political parties and voters in these elections, with traditionally low turnout of slightly less than 20 percent. The highlight of the elections was the fact that for the first time in the post-1989 history of Slovakia, a far right extremist was directly elected into a high political office.
Corporate taxes to change, again
SLOWER than expected economic revival as Slovakia remains dependent on external trading partners was the prevailing economic trend for the year. Thus, even though Slovakia’s economy managed to grow, estimated at 0.9 percent for 2013, the rate was too low to make a significant impact on job creation. The unemployment rate remains among the highest in the EU. While 2012, the year in which Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government took power, was rich in tax and labour legislation changes, 2013 also brought change. The government introduced tax licenses to be paid even by loss-making firms. This is to be accompanied by a 1 percent point drop in corporate tax rates and extension of collective bargaining rights. Measures to combat tax evasion began to bear fruits in the form of higher collection during the final months of 2013.
June
Slovak cabinet approves investment stimuli. Three companies – Continental Matador Rubber, Railway Casted Components and Brovedani Slovakia – received significant investment stimulus totalling €33.6 million. The companies will invest in Slovakia more than €284 million into expansion of their local production and create almost 1,100 new jobs. Continental will get €20 million, Railway Casted Components will receive nearly €10 million and Brovedani about €3.6 million.
April
New rules for investment aid. Terms for companies asking for state investment aid were changed with aid-seeking companies having to guarantee the creation of at least 15 percent more new jobs from the average number of employees for the last 12 months and a minimum of 40 new hires who must be employed full-time for one year. If the company asks for help to expand production in an existing plant, it also must guarantee growth in production.
February
Volksbank becomes Sberbank. The third biggest bank in Europe, Russia’s Sberbank, started to officially operate under this trademark in Slovakia. Sberbank purchased the subsidiaries of Volksbank, including its Slovak arm in February 2012 for €505 million.
Judicial independence under threat
The saga around the election and the appointment of the new general prosecutor was one of the most politically charged issues of 2013.
October
Slovalco seals discount electricity deal. Slovalco, the aluminium producer, signed a long-term electricity supply contract with the power utility Slovenské Elektrárne (SE). The contract provides for the supply of electricity to the aluminium smelter, totalling 19 terawatt-hours for a period of eight years, from 2014 to 2021. The company did not want to specify the price of electricity. Slovalco will thus presumably continue producing aluminium in its Žiar nad Hronom facility and thus preserve 3,000 jobs connected with the production and processing of aluminium.
Scandals yes, but no top heads roll
Slovakia ranked 61 in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2013 by the ethics watchdog Transparency International (TI). The only European Union countries ranking lower were Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. In 2013, the media broke several stories involving suspicions of corruption or nepotism but none resulted in the resignation of the senior state officials involved.Agriculture Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek, facing accusations of nepotism, had to explain why a disproportionately high number of people in his ministry's management positions have ties to Jahnátek’s native village of Komjatice, which has just 4,000 residents. The list of ministry employees with ties to Jahnátek includes the minister’s nephew serving as head of control for projects financed from two EU operational programmes and his niece in the post of head of operations and registration while also being in the post of general director of the department of implementation of regional development programmes. A seat of the Slovak Land Fund council also went to a Komjatice native. The brother-in-law of the local Smer head in Komjatice got the job of the head of state property and investment while the heads of the press office and the internal audits are also Komjatice natives. All these employees joined the ministry’s staff only after Jahnátek took the ministerial post. The announcement for the job openings was only published on the ministry’s intranet, and only ministry employees had access to the information, according to the Sme daily.
Smer maintains firm grip; so does high unemployment
THOUGH the parliamentary opposition parties made an attempt on September 19 to have Prime Minister Robert Fico, the leader of Smer party, sacked over claims that a major gas deal between the state and a financial group was masterminded by the latter, the dominance of Fico’s Smer party in parliament saw the government easily survive the no-confidence vote. Fico called the process “absurd”.
September
Slovakia launches VAT lottery to improve tax collection. The Finance Ministry launches a new scheme to convert retail receipts into lottery tickets to encourage customers to actively request those receipts. Under the plan, lottery drawings will take place every 14 days beginning September 30. Ten prizes are being awarded with each drawing, the highest at €10,000 while all of them together come to €20,000. Each month there is a special drawing so that a person from each region in Slovakia is drawn. For Christmas the lottery company Tipos announced a special prize of €30,000. More than 430,000 people actively ‘play’ the VAT lottery. The scheme has shown to be successful as Slovaks enrolled more than 30 million receipts during the first two months and more retailers will enable automatic enrolment of their receipts as of the start of 2014. According to the Finance Ministry, the lottery has already helped to improve VAT collection and uncover tax fraudsters.Slovakia’s competitiveness ranking falls. For the seventh year in a row Slovakia dropped on the list of competitiveness compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Compared to the previous year the country fell by seven positions to 78th place, its historically worst placement, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014. Slovakia is the second least competitive country of the European Union, trailing only Greece which placed 91st.
Presidential race on deck
The year 2014 was once dubbed the superelection year, before the government of Iveta Radičová collapsed early, altering the parliamentary election cycle. Still, the year ahead is full of opportunites – some more, some less attractive – to cast one’s vote. Three types of elections will take place: European parliament, presidential, and municipal.
Political right remains fragmented
Though several right-wing parties declared this year that instead of internal fights they want to focus on working for the public’s benefit, the post-election fragmentation in the centre-to-right half of the political spectrum continued throughout 2013.
May
Cross Up! production launched. The Slovak arm of the German carmaker Volkswagen Slovakia launched the production of the Volkswagen Cross Up! model.
August
S&P affirms Slovakia’s credit rating. The international rating agency Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) affirmed its A-level long-term sovereign credit rating for Slovakia, while also confirming the short-term A-1 rating. The outlook for the country is stable.
November
Paying Taxes ranking down. Slovakia’s position in the Paying Taxes ranking, which is authored by PwC and the World Bank, worsened compared to last year, with Slovakia currently standing at 102nd place out of 190 countries considered for the ranking. While on average each company makes 20 tax payments and devotes 207 hours of its time to doing so, the overall tax-paying rate in Slovakia dropped from last year’s 47.9 percent to 47.2 percent.
March
U.S. Steel stays in Košice. U.S. Steel Corporation changed its mind and did not sell its U.S. Steel Košice (USSK) subsidiary in eastern Slovakia. Representatives of the Slovak government and the US company signed a memorandum on March 26 in Košice, after the return of Prime Minister Robert Fico from a whirlwind two-day trip to the headquarters of U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh. In return for not selling the plant, the state provided it aid in the form of relief in energy and environmental costs.
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- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
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