THE SLOVAK cabinet agreed to a draft bill enabling land restitution claims by persons unable to file their
claims before the legal deadline passed in 1992. Only permanent residents of Slovakia will be able to make
claims under the new proposal, which would take effect from January 1, 2004. Restitution claims for land taken
by the communist state between 1948 and 1989, covered by the bill, could cost the state up to Sk2.5 billion (€59
million), according to the SITA news agency.