Archive of articles - December 2013, page 2
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Uncertainties in health sector remain
The year 2013 did not see the government re-establish a unitary system of public health insurance as it had planned. It did however see an agreement to increase salaries of doctors while a law seeking to raise nurse salaries was found unconstitutional.
December
Bank divisions merge. The Slovak and Czech arms of the Italian UniCredit bank merged into a single unit headquartered in Prague. The Slovak bank transformed into a branch of the foreign bank UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia.Danube Wings ceased operations. The Slovak airline, which was launched in 2008 and whose business was connected with Vladimír Poór, closed down its last scheduled route, between Bratislava and Košice, arguing that it was unable to find customers prepared to pay actual costs and has run only charter flights over recent months.After a two-year break the Czech Airlines (ČSA) renewed the scheduled route Prague-Bratislava. ČSA also added a new route where the planes will continue from Bratislava to Košice. ČSA offers two return flights Prague - Bratislava – Košice every Monday, Wednesday and Friday while it plans to extend them to 10 per week as of March.Project to supply gas to Ukraine a possibility. The plan to supply natural gas from Slovakia to Ukraine remains alive. According to a spokesman for the Eustream Slovak gas transmission system operator, all involved parties agreed upon the definitive wording of the memorandum on the plan. In mid-December it was still not known whether and when the document would be signed.Two Slovak companies make it to Technology Fast 500 EMEA. Companies WebSupport and Eset made it to Technology Fast 500 in the EMEA region, an annual ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies compiled by Deloitte. WebSupport finished 138th and Eset 466th.Kellner leaves EPH. The ownership of the Czech company EPH, which controls the transit of natural gas through Slovakia and its distribution into households via Eustream and SPP, will change. While J&T finance group and Daniel Křetínský will stay on as owners, billionaire Petr Kellner, the richest man in the Czech Republic, plans to sell his shares.Corporate tax policy shifts. The Finance Ministry, in an attempt to boost tax revenue, proposes annual tax licenses to be paid even by loss-making companies. It defended its measure by pointing out that approximately 60 percent of companies operating in Slovakia do not pay any license taxes. The rate of an individual tax license will depend on the turnover of a given company and whether or not it pays VAT. Companies which do not pay VAT and see a turnover of up to €500,000 will pay €480, whereas those paying VAT with the same turnover category are to pay €960 and firms with turnovers exceeding €500,000 will pay €2,880. Along with the introduction of the tax licenses, the corporate tax of 23 percent decreased to 22 percent.
Johann Strauss’ The Bat/Die Fledermaus marks year’s end
A FEW theatrical works are typically performed at a specific time of the year. One of those is the operetta by Johan Strauss Junior called The Bat (Die Fledermaus), the plot of which involves the turn of the New Year. Thus, it is often staged on or around New Year’s Eve.
“PartySlava” celebrates New Year’s Eve with a philharmonic concert and an ice disco
SLOVAK capital Bratislava, sometimes dubbed PartySlava by those who yearn to promote it as THE centre of parties, discos and clubbing, has prepared a host of various programmes for the last say of the year 2013. The New Year’s Eve celebrations will concentrate downtown, primarily around the Main Square and the Hviezdoslavovo Square.
Roma reform and human rights strategy stuck
Human rights hit a dead end in 2013 and it is yet to be seen whether the state will find a way out of the problems caused by the less than tolerant relationship between the proponents of gender equality and LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual) rights, and those defending the “traditional” family concept.
July
State scraps Rázsochy hospital project. The Health Ministry says plans for the Rázsochy hospital building, which was originally conceived as a state-of-the-art medical facility for Bratislava, are not feasible. It instead proposed to construct a brand new teaching hospital. The idea to build Rázsochy has been in the works for more than 30 years. But what started out as an ambitious project to serve patients from across Slovakia, and to house medical students, resulted in a huge but unfinished complex which was later left to rot. It has been ravaged by scavengers seeking scrap metal and other materials. The construction of Rázsochy was launched in 1987, two years before the fall of the communist regime in Slovakia. The complex was supposed to have been completed in 1993, but construction was halted in 1990. The second Mikuláš Dzurinda government halted the project completely in 2003, the Pravda daily wrote. Today only the skeleton of the huge facility remains. So far the Rázsochy complex has cost €33 million.
January
The revised Labour Code becomes effective. The Robert Fico government overhauled the Labour Code, the most significant legislation concerning employee-employer relations, as it claimed to return balance to relations between employees and employers. Employers and opposition MPs criticise the revision, effective as of the beginning of 2013, saying the changes are the opposite of what Slovakia’s economy, affected by the economic crisis and suffering from high unemployment, needs.
BREAKING: Two Slovak soldiers killed in Afghanistan
TWO of the three ISAF soldiers killed in a December 27 attack on a convoy in Kabul were Slovaks. The third deceased soldier was American.
Controversial text in school book will change
THE TEXT about divorced mother with one son who marries their neighbour should disappear from one of the phonics books used in Slovak primary schools, Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič decided on December 23. Putting the example of a divorced family in the book provoked criticism from traditionalists. Later, their complaints were backed by the Catholic Church.
State will decide over SPP purchase by June 2014
THE SLOVAK government will postpone its plans to become a 100-percent stakeholder in Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) gas utility. Unlike the original plans to get the 49-percent share in the firm by the end of 2013, the state might decide over acquring the remaining stock by June 2014, Economy Minister Tomáš Malatinský said in the interview with the TASR newswire.
Trnka continues work as prosecutor
THOUGH a disciplinary senate decided that former general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka would be stripped of his prosecutor post, he is allowed to serve as prosecutor even after Christmas. Current General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár has not used his authority to suspend Trnka as he awaits a Trnava Regional Court decision on an appeal, the Sme daily reported December 27.
Vojtek reportedly leaves the general staff
PETER Vojtek has resigned from his post of the chief of Slovakia’s General Staff of Armed Forces, the Hospodárske Noviny daily reported in its December 27 issue. It is possible he will leave the post in the beginning of 2014.
Quote of the week
“I understand my candidacy as a service to Slovakia.”
Kaliňák wants constitutional law on filing public administration posts
AFTER the public administration sector reform known as ESO is complete we want to engage in drafting and implementing in practice a new constitutional law on state administration services that would define which posts should be subject to political nomination and which should be filled based on regular competition, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák told TASR.
Fico: Role of president as political leader to grow
THE ROLE of president as the political leader of the country will gain in importance with the intensified splintering of political parties and with extremist and ultra-nationalist movements coming to the fore, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on the public-service RTVS on December 22.
Presidential candidates talk about unfair practices; Bárdos accepts MPs bid
SOME politicians who have announced their running in the presidential election complained about the election date of March 15.
Quick tax return and tax payment through a new portal in the next year
ALL those who own an ID with a chip will be able to declare their taxes through the web thanks to a new webportal, the testing version of which the Financial Directorate presented shortly before Christmas.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Danube Wings is grounded
THE SLOVAK airline Danube Wings, established in 2008, and associated with tycoon Vladimír Poór has wound up its air transport activities, the Hospodárske Noviny daily wrote on December 13.“The company finished, employees were fired, the project is over,” an unnamed employee of the company told the daily.
Štefánik returns from abroad
THE ARMOURED train Štefánik returned to Slovakia in September after spending six months on a trip to the Netherlands. The Museum of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) lent the train for the exhibition Flags in War in Utrecht, which presented several military trains.
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