List of author's articles, page 32
President criticised for rejecting Čentéš
PRESIDENT Ivan Gašparovič has opened another chapter in the knotty saga of filling the vacant post of Slovakia’s general prosecutor by formally announcing, in early January, that he would not appoint parliament’s chosen candidate, Jozef Čentéš, to the job. Čentéš immediately challenged the president’s decision at the Constitutional Court, arguing that he had failed to list any legitimate reasons for his refusal to appoint him.
President formally rejects Čentéš for top prosecutor job
PRESIDENT Ivan Gašparovič will not appoint Jozef Čentéš to be Slovakia's next general prosecutor, despite parliament voting to select him for the post on June 7, 2011, and the Constitutional Court subsequently confirming the legitimacy of the parliamentary ballot by which he was chosen. Gašparovič sent a letter explaining his decision to the speaker of parliament, Pavol Paška. Čentéš said that he would challenge the president's decision at the Constitutional Court, adding that the president had failed to list any legitimate reasons for his refusal to appoint him, the SITA newswire reported.
Minorities
Among the major changes in the government’s structure after the March election was the cancellation of the post of deputy prime minister for national minorities and human rights, a step for which Robert Fico earned harsh criticism from human rights and minority rights activists. Subsequently, for the first time, the post of government proxy for Roma communities was given to an opposition representative, Peter Pollák, who is also Slovakia’s first-ever ethnic Roma MP, and a member of Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO).
Troubled prosecution
Jozef Čentéš, who was elected by parliament to be Slovakia’s next general prosecutor on June 7, 2011, has been waiting ever since for President Ivan Gašparovič to officially appoint him to the post. Gašparovič has received strong criticism from political ethics watchdogs as well as opposition parties for his reluctance to appoint Čentéš, who was elected in a ballot whose legitimacy has been confirmed by the Constitutional Court.
Slovakia owes Achmea millions, court rules
NOBODY will pay anything to anybody for now, was the first reaction of Prime Minister Robert Fico to Slovakia’s defeat in a long-running court case initiated by Achmea, the Dutch owner of Union, a health insurance firm, over controversial legislation which prevented privately-owned public health insurers from retaining profits or distributing them to shareholders. The law in question was passed by Fico’s 2006-10 government. The International Court of Arbitration ruled that Slovakia must now pay €22 million to Achmea for what it called a violation of the provisions of the investment treaty between Slovakia and the Netherlands.
Gorilla
The word ‘Gorilla’ has, since an eponymous leaked file came to light in late December 2011, become a byword in Slovakia for suspicions of widespread political corruption and domestic spying. The Gorilla file, a lengthy document that purports to describe an operation conducted by the Slovak Information Service (SIS), the country’s main intelligence agency, which collected information about the influence of the Penta financial group on senior Slovak politicians between 2005 and 2006, emerged via Slovak media outlets and became the single most resonant issue in Slovakia’s pre-election discourse. Gorilla spilled from newspapers, talk shows and discussion threads onto social networking sites and into the streets.
Gorilla heralds change at the top
THE SINGLE most significant change Slovakia experienced in 2012 was the landslide victory of Robert Fico in the March 10 general election, which left his Smer party with 83 seats, and hence an overall majority of 16 in the 150-seat parliament. Smer, which won 44.41 percent of the vote, has painted Slovakia’s political map red – the party’s campaign colour. It emerged in first place in an astonishing 77 of the country’s 79 districts. Smer even took the capital, Bratislava, with 30.69 percent of the vote, double the support of any of its political rivals.
2012: The year of Gorilla
2012 WAS the year of Gorilla, which is not a newly created sign in Chinese astrology, but rather Slovakia’s byword for political corruption, named after the Gorilla file, a leaked document aspiring to describe the influence of tycoons on Slovak politics between 2005 and 2006. Its deafening roar during massive street rallies where people vented their frustration with murky politics, impacted the results of the parliamentary elections, and paradoxically brought Robert Fico and his Smer party back to power much sooner than his critics had hoped: only a little more than a year and half after he was ousted by the right-wing parties in 2010.
Mistrust in judiciary prevails
The nomination of non-partisan Tomáš Borec, the former chairman of the Slovak Bar Association, to the post of justice minister, prompted a generally positive response back in April. Paradoxically, by the end of the year, Borec became the only minister of Robert Fico’s government whom the opposition had tried (unsuccessfully) to have sacked for what it called his reluctance to support an opposition-initiated parliamentary debate over the critical state of the judiciary, as well as a lack of action to improve this state.
State agrees to changes in gas firm
THE STATE is one step closer to increasing its say in the management of the country’s major gas utility as part of changes to the ownership structure of Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) and its subsidiaries. Ministers on December 12 unblocked the sale of a 49-percent minority share package currently owned jointly by foreign shareholders E.ON Ruhrgas and GDF Suez, thereby giving up its pre-emptive right to purchase the shares. The intended buyer of Slovak Gas Holding, the vehicle for the stake, is the Czech firm Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH), the SITA newswire reported.
Opposition
2012 has been marked by fragmentation of the already numerous centre-right parties on the Slovak political scene. The former ruling coalition parties spent several months licking their wounds after the March 10 election, deciding how to revamp their leaderships and lay out new political prescriptions that connect better with voters in the future.
The strikes
Even though 2012 did not see industrial action by any professional group as dramatic as the protest by hospital doctors at the end of 2011, there were professions that made it clear they were no longer willing to keep quiet where their status and salaries are concerned – particularly nurses and teachers.
Poor marks for graft
YET ANOTHER international ranking has confirmed that the fight against corruption is one area where Slovakia urgently needs attention if the country does not want to linger at the bottom of the European Union in terms of how corrupt the public administration is seen by domestic and foreign businesses as well as observers. The Corruption Perception Index for 2012 released by Transparency International ranks Slovakia 62nd out of 176 assessed countries, and the fifth worst among European Union countries.
Par for the course
CHARTS, rankings and surveys highlighting Slovakia’s ongoing problems with corruption have lost their power to shock. Year after year, when Slovakia achieves an unflattering standing in corruption perception rankings, politicians respond predictably, depending on who is in power: some downplay the significance of the message; some blame the previous administration; or else they simply shoot the messenger, claiming that the watchdog in question is politically motivated in sounding the alarm.
Turkish recipes: Ezo Bride Soup (Ezo Gelin Çorbasi)
Ingredients and preparation.
Turkish recipes: Karniyarik
Ingredients and preparation.
First charges laid in Glance House case
THE FIRST charges have emerged in the case of a controversial real estate transfer enabled by deputy general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka. The police have charged now former director of the Senec cadastral office, Igor Svitek, with the crime of thwarting the tasks of a public official on December 5. On the same day, Svitek lost his top job with the cadastral office for having approved the controversial transfer of the Glance House luxury residential development in Bernolákovo, a municipality near Bratislava, based on a letter sent by Trnka sidestepping an embargo by the Special Prosecutor’s Office on any dealings involving the building.
Turkish cuisine: Far more than kebabs
THE IMPRESSION that döner kebabs are the most typical Turkish dish is actually incorrect, suggests Gülhan Ulutekin, the Turkish ambassador to Slovakia, who is quick to offer ‘sarma’, grape leaves stuffed with a mixture of minced meat and rice; cacik, a yogurt-cucumber dish which has many variations throughout the region and pilav, a simple but popular rice side dish, as examples of dishes that are just as common as kebabs.
Turkish recipes: Orange revani
Ingredients and preparation.
Slovakia’s ratings continue to drop
Though competitiveness rankings are not the sole factor that investors consider when searching for new homes for their investments, business professionals agree that the charts transmit important signals about the challenges that countries need to address if they want to remain competitive.
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