Archive of articles - December 2013, page 8
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Controversial causes lack funding
WHILE companies in their philanthropic efforts contributed most of their funds in 2012 to support culture and cultural monuments, more serious issues, like fighting corruption or helping marginalised communities, received far less support. This trend can be seen on the Philanthropic Map, created by the Pontis Foundation in cooperation with companies active in Slovakia. NGOs say the map accurately reflects the situation in the country, and are proposing solutions to focus donors’ attention on these neglected areas.
Norwegian recipes: Salmon mousse (video included)
Ingredients and preparation.
Norwegian recipes: Cod – the simple way (video included)
Ingredients and preparation.
Firm foundations and funds group
EIGHT large corporate foundations and funds have grouped within the Association of Corporate Foundations and Funds (ASFIN) with the goal of enabling member networking and to advocate the interests of the corporate foundations community. Martina Nehézová from ASFIN told the SITA newswire in mid July that the foundations decided to launch the association during the time when revenues from the so-called 2 percent assignation scheme of taxes paid by corporate entities have been falling.
Slovakia pays respects to Mandela
SLOVAK representatives joined those from across the world sending their condolences to South Africa, where former president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela died on December 5.
Slovak paragliders back home, flown in by a government airplane
The remaining two Slovak paragliders detained in Iran are back home. After more than 200 days spent in detention over espionage allegations, they were flown into Bratislava on December 13 shortly after 1:30 by a government airplane.
Mečiar resigns his HZDS membership
Three-time Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar terminated his membership in the Movement for Democratic Slovakia-HZDS on December 12 – a party he founded and chaired since 1991. “A so-called collective leadership is steering the party toward bankruptcy and liquidation behind the backs of its members. Contrary to the resolutions passed by the party Congress, they’re planning to found a new party,” Mečiar told the TASR newswire on December 12. “They lie to the public, lie to members and I just can't function in such an organisation anymore.” The party is currently led by the “gremium”, a supposedly temporary arrangement until the replacement for Mečiar is found. The search has been taking place since 2012, when Mečiar chose to step down as the party chair after HZDS failed to get into parliament in two consecutive elections (2010 and 2012).
Parliament clears 2014 budget
Parliament approved the state budget for 2014, with the deficit projected to reach 2.64 percent of GDP. Eighty-one out of 145 MPs in the chamber voted for the bill, while 62 were against it December 12. All MPs present from the governing Smer-SD party backed the budget while all but two opposition legislators voted against it, the TASR newswire wrote. Štefan Kuffa of ‘Ordinary People’ (OĽaNO) abstained from voting, Independent MP Radoslav Procházka didn’t vote at all. The draft, which was amended in parliament, envisages the deficit to reach €3.284 billion. Revenues should stand at €14.108 billion while expenditure is projected to reach €17.392 billion. The initial proposal envisaged a slightly bigger deficit – €3.386 billion. The largest portion of funding in the 2014 budget is to be allocated to the Transport, Construction and Regional Development Ministry -- €2.257 billion. Next, comes the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry, and the Interior Ministry on €2.211 billion and €2.018 billion, respectively.
Inflation approaches record lows, fall to continue
The trend of a gradual annual fall in the prices of goods and services is expected to continue in the months ahead, as the rate is predicted to attack the lowest rates since 2009 and 2010, according to analysts.
UPDATED: Iran releases remaining Slovak paragliders
THE REMAINING two Slovak paragliders detained in Iran are back home. After more than 200 days spent in detention over espionage allegations, they were flown into Bratislava on December 13 shortly after 1:30 by a government airplane.
Three SDKÚ members leave
SLOVAKIA is seeing another round of MP defections from the current parliamentary parties elected in the March 2012 general election. Lucia Žitňanská, Miroslav Beblavý and Magdaléna Vášáryová have left the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) on December 12, the Sme.sk website reported. Žitňanská explained she is leaving because of “the recent vagueness of attitudes of the SDKÚ, the loss of content and the inability to make political decisions”, as reported by the Sme.sk website.
Government approves increase in civil servant salaries
As of January 2014, state employees will see a alary increase of €16 per month, the government decided December 11.
Opposition SDKÚ may see exodus of three prominent figures
The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-SDKÚ caucus and the party might lose three of its members, sources within the party leadership told the TASR newswire.
Kaliňák: Technical flaw caused Kurimany Bridge collapse
Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák said on December 11 that the inadequate reinforcement and subsequent failure of support structures was the main cause of the collapse of the November 2012 bridge collapse in Kurimany (in the Prešov region).
Slovak and Iranian security forces continue talks on paragliders
Prime Minister Robert Fico and Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák ended negotiations in Iran with the main deputy of Iranian president and first vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri about transporting the remaining two detained Slovak paragliders home. However, the talks continue between the due security authorities of the two countries, the Slovak Government Office informed the TASR newswire on December 12.
Iran releases remaining two detained Slovak paragliders
Iranian authorities released the remaining two of a total of eight Slovak paragliders detained in May for alleged espionage and for owning unpermitted devices.
Press group says state budget threatens Slovak broadcast regulator
The International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), expressed concern that proposed changes to Slovakia’s 2014 state budget could threaten the political independence of the country’s broadcasting regulator and lead to media self-censorship. A draft budget currently before parliament would cut overall funding for the Slovak Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission (RVR) while more than doubling the yearly revenue it is expected to collect, IPI wrote in a press release. Parliament’s culture and media committee last month approved provisions that would cut the amount of state funds allocated to the RVR from almost €1.19 million in 2012 and 2013, to €1.13 million in 2014. The RVR would be also expected to collect €340,000 in revenue from fees and fines in 2014, up from the 2013 expected amount of €160,000. Slovakia’s Association of Independent Radio and Television Stations (ANRTS) said the 2013 amount of expected revenue was calculated based on the average amounts collected from 2010 to 2012, and that 97 percent of revenue the RVR collected in 2012 came from fines. “Politicians should not be dictating a minimum amount in fines that an ostensibly independent media regulator must issue,” IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi said. “The ability of the regulator to rule independently and fairly on the fines to be issued for breaches of the broadcasting code is challenged if an external authorities sets the amount that should be collected, even more so if such amount is out of line of the results from previous years.” Observers have expressed fears that the dramatic increase in the amount of revenue called for gives the regulator an incentive to find violations based on pretexts and to issue greater numbers of fines in increasing amounts. They say the likely targets would be broadcasters that express unwelcome political opinions, leading to the potential for a growing cycle of self-censorship. Slovak broadcasting law allows the RVR, an administrative body whose nine members are appointed by parliament, to issue warnings to broadcasters for violations of the law and to fine broadcasters for certain violations. The RVR has authority to issue fines ranging from €99 to €165,959. According to the ANRTS, Slovak law governing the financing of state institutions allows the Finance Ministry to reduce the regulator’s funding if it fails to fulfil its duties which includes raising the amount of revenue set forth in the budget. The ministry has declined to provide a rationale for the increase in expected revenue collection by the RVR. The proposed 2014 budget currently before parliament anticipates an overall deficit of about 2.8 percent of GDP, which would allow the country to comply with a European Commission (EC)-imposed deficit cap of three percent.
New flight to Prague opens in Bratislava
A traditional flight connecting the Slovak capital with Prague and Kosice was re-established at the Bratislava’s international M.R. Štefánik airport (BTS) on December 11. Operated by the Czech Air (ČSA), the link represents the oldest Czechoslovak flight that was opened for the first time in May 1924. “The flight connection between the cities of Prague, Bratislava and Košice is a traditional route and, without a shadow of doubt, belongs to the flight map of our Central European region,” Bratislava airport Director Ivan Trhlík told the TASR newswire. In the current winter season, the flight from Slovakia to Prague is connected to other ČSA flights bound from Prague to other locations such as Barcelona, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Kiev, Milan and Moscow, with transfer times to be spent in Prague of up to 2 hours. The number of connected flights is to be gradually extended to Madrid, Nice, St Petersburg, Zurich and Geneva. By making such a move, ČSA intend to contribute to the connection between regions and bolster their attractiveness in the eyes of domestic as well as foreign investors.
Average nominal salaries rise in October
The average nominal salary, or wage, in October rose in all the monitored fields year-on-year, with the highest increases seen in sales and repairs of motor vehicles and information activities and communications. While the bracket of sales and repairs of motor vehicles in October recorded a year-on-year hike of 6.8 percent and stood at €797 per month, the average nominal salary in information activities and communications went up 5.9 percent to €1,768 per month, the Slovak Statistics Office (ŠÚ) reported on December 11.
Mečiar
THIS week may mark the end of an era. Vladimír Mečiar has been an irrelevant figure since 2010, when his Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) failed to make it into parliament. But now he’s gone from the HZDS altogether, leaving behind the meagre remains of the party he founded, ruled and turned into a dominant political force in the 1990s.
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