List of author's articles, page 8
A fistful of euros
A 53-YEAR old woman was given a six month conditional prison sentence for giving a €5 bribe to a physician from Nitra for a confirmation of temporary sick-leave in early November. The local prosecution is investigating dozens of other patients over the transgression of giving bribe to a physician. The physician is being prosecuted for the crime of taking a bribe, and if found guilty, he might be locked behind bars from three to eight years, according to a SITA newswire report.
Diplomacy via culture, tourism, education
WITH nearly 19,000 students learning French in the Slovak school system, the French language is well represented in the country, notes French Ambassador Didier Lopinot who also suggests that some Slovaks are opting to study French in connection with their work, especially with Slovakia’s 2016 European Union presidency approaching, with French still a key working language among EU institutions.
Penta to withdraw to minority
THE PENTA investment group which is buying into Petit Press publishing house through the company Namav has agreed to withdraw to a 45-percent minority share and thus leave the controlling 55-percent package to the Prvá Slovenská Investičná Skupina (PSIS), the original founder of the publishing house. Penta, which originally was set to buy a 50-percent stake in Petit Press, the publisher of flagship newspaper daily Sme, is to sell a 5-percent share to PSIS and according to Petit Press CEO Alexej Fulmek, the financial group will have no influence over editorial content in the publishing house.
Health minister, deputy speaker out
THE SHADY purchase of an overpriced computed tomography (CT) device by a financially ailing hospital has cost Smer nominee Zuzana Zvolenská the post of health minister and Renáta Zmajkovičová, a key Smer official who sat at the top of the hospital’s supervisory board, the post of parliamentary deputy speaker. Prime Minister Robert Fico called on the two officials to resign just days after the Sme daily and the private television station Markíza broke the story on the Piešťany Hospital of Alexander Winter buying a CT scanner with a price tag three times higher than similar devices in the Czech Republic.
Bigoted balloting
NEITHER anti-gay activists, who initiated a petition for a referendum to constitutionally define the concept of family, nor LGBTI rights advocates, who called the initiative an attempt to curb minority rights, are happy with the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court. The judges ruled that three of the four proposed ballot initiatives could go forward, clearing a path for referenda on the definition of marriage, child adoption by same-sex couples and sexual education in schools, but blocking a question about registered partnerships having the same rights as marriage.
Interest in local elections varies
IN BRATISLAVA the right-wing parties are uniting to challenge a Smer-backed incumbent and a number of other cities promise tight races, but there are more than 500 municipalities where the November 15 elections are a mere formality because there is only one candidate. A number of villages will elect no mayor at all, because no one is running for office.
Slovakia buys two Spartan planes
SLOVAKIA is making one of the largest investments into its army in more than two decades with the planned purchase of two Spartan C-27J military cargo planes with price tags of €34.5 million each. The total bill climbs to approximately €94 million including service fees and training of the crew, while payments will come in three instalments to the Italian company Alenia Aermacchi, the Sme daily reported. Defence Minister Martin Glváč and representatives of Alenia Aermacchi, which claims that it has contracted 78 of the same aircraft to more than 10 countries in five continents, signed the deal on October 29 in Bratislava.
Getting inspired by the hotbed of innovation
WAITING to see whether legislation has a negative effect on the business environment and then changing things is not the best approach when it comes to a business environment, says Jake Slegers, the executive director of AmCham in Slovakia, adding that frequent legislative changes without proper impact assessment are damaging.
The best diplomacy: travel, education exchange
THEODORE Sedgwick believes that for diplomats it is important to talk to the average person in order to better understand the country. “I really enjoyed my contact with so many Slovaks all over the country,” said Sedgwick, the US ambassador to Slovakia, who is serving his fourth year here as a diplomat. A passionate traveller himself, Sedgwick says Slovakia has much to offer as a tourist destination, and also as an important player in regional security.
Busting the myth
WHENEVER economic hardship culminates people, tend to pick a scapegoat – a vessel to pour their frustration into. In Slovakia, the country’s 403,000-strong Roma population most frequently plays this unfortunate role. Whenever foreigners who haven’t been in contact with the Roma ask about this socially vulnerable group, many Slovaks readily offer their insights: instead of working, they sponge off the country’s social system, thus contributing to the country’s economic problems.
The worst publicity gimmick
SLOVAKIA has seen nearly as many stories of integrity as stories of corruption over the 25 years that have passed since the Velvet Revolution. The story of the Sme daily, which was founded in response to efforts by Vladimír Mečiar, the country’s notorious three-time prime minister, to silence the daily Smena, which was not coinciding with what Mečiar and his buddies envisioned for society, is one such story of integrity and the desire for freedom.
Five run for Judicial Council seat
FIVE candidates, including Štefan Harabin, who earlier this year failed in his bid to get re-elected as Supreme Court president, will run for a vacant seat on the Judicial Council, which oversees the operation of the judiciary in the country. The deadline for submitting candidacies elapsed on October 13, with Harabin’s critics dubbing the November 25 election as a “litmus test of the condition of the country’s judiciary” as 1,400 judges will be voting to pick their representative on the council.
Šefčovič to oversee Energy Union
FOR SOME time it seemed that Slovak diplomat Maroš Šefčovič would oversee the transport and space portfolio in the European Commission, satisfying Slovakia’s voiced ambitions to get a strong economic department. Šefčovič is now however promoted to serve as EC vice president for the Energy Union, far surpassing expectations.
Turmoil over Penta's bid for Petit Press
AFTER weeks of negotiation, the Penta investment group is set to buy a 50-percent stock in the Petit Press publishing house, spurring resignations by editors at the daily newspaper Sme.
Harabin runs for Judicial Council seat
ŠTEFAN Harabin, who earlier this year failed in his bid to get re-elected as Supreme Court president, is not ready to part from his influence over Slovakia’s judiciary and will run for a file-and-rank membership in the Judicial Council, which oversees the operation of the judiciary in the country. Harabin was proposed for the post in the council which he personally ran for five years by 10 judges of the penal collegium of the Supreme Court that he currently leads.
Picture of Dorian Gray
PEOPLE who cannot be intoxicated by PR-pieces masked as journalism and aim for news that shows the true reflection of political Dorian Grays in the mirror, usually make well-informed decisions in their support for or opposition to politicians, public figures or even products.
Penta wants to buy Petit Press
THE PROSPECT of the financial group Penta buying its way to Petit Press publishing house has prompted concerns about journalistic independence in the 21-year-old group, which publishes a major daily Sme, Új Szó, Slovakia’s only Hungarian-language daily, and the regional daily Korzár, and is the majority owner in The Slovak Spectator.
The final act of the SDKÚ melodrama
RECENT developments within the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), a once reformist force that pushed three-time prime minister Vladimír Mečiar and his party out of office and into oblivion, is now itself on the verge of going the same route.
Frešo still chief after tense SDKÚ congress
THREE deputy chairmen along with the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union’s (SDKÚ) treasurer and general secretary have resigned in response to party members opting not to oust chairman Pavol Frešo at the party’s special congress.
Slovakia faces gas supplies halved
A FIFTY-percent drop in Russian natural gas deliveries on October 1 put the government on alert with Prime Minister Robert Fico comforting Slovak households and the corporate sector that undisrupted and smooth supplies of gas to cover their consumption is still guaranteed. In mid-September supplies of Russian gas via Ukraine dropped by 10 to 20 percent with Russian gas giant Gazprom citing technical issues behind the drop leaving observers who see a political message unconvinced.
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- Slovakia's latest basketball star is destined for great things in the USA More articles ›
