News digest: Tourists in the Tatras break 40-year record

Read the overview of news from August 10, 2020.

The Tatras have been flooded with tourists.The Tatras have been flooded with tourists. (Source: TASR)

This is your overview of news from Slovakia from Monday, August 10, 2020. For a weekly overview, don’t miss our recent Last Week in Slovakia, published earlier today. Also, make sure to scroll down to our tips for reads.
If you want to support work efforts to bring you news you can trust, consider buying our online subscription that will also enable to the access to all our stories. Thank you.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Za Ľudí has new chair, Kiska leaves

The smallest coalition party Za Ľudí chose Investment Minister Veronika Remišová to replace its founder, ex-president Andrej Kiska, who is withdrawing from politics altogether due to health issues.

SkryťTurn off ads

The delegates elected his replacement and several deputy chairs at the August 8 congress.

“I believe that with the expert potential the party will grow into a strong party,” Remišová said after the congress.

Foreign trade slowly recovers

Slovakia’s foreign trade reached a record surplus in June as well as a significant recovery in exports. The increase in car exports pushed the trade-balance surplus to a record-high €710 million, beating the record of €665 million from May 2014.

Slovakia exported goods worth €6.4 billion in June, only 1.2 percent down year-on-year. Imports reached €5.686 billion, decreasing 8.9 percent y-o-y. The trade balance surplus of €709.9 million was €480.2 million higher than in June 2019, the Slovak Statistics Office reported.

SkryťTurn off ads

Tourists in the Tatras break record

A new record was broken in the Tatras, after more than 30,000 visitors came to the mountains in a single day.

The most visited places were Popradské Pleso lake and Rysy peak.

In other news

  • Slovakia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has called on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to practise fundamental democratic principles and the freedom of speech. At the same time, it told the country’s government to abandon violence and release detained people based on their political beliefs as well as journalists. The Ministry was also disturbed by the registration of candidates, the pre-election campaign and the course of the election itself. President Zuzana Čaputová was concerned by the current situation in Belarus, and she has condemned the violence against its citizens.
  • Summer schools opened on August 10 and will last through August 28, with the aim of helping them catch up in terms of the knowledge and skills they could not develop after the coronavirus outbreak closed schools.
  • The August 9 testing revealed only three new coronavirus-positive people. Slovakia currently reports 702 active coronavirus cases. See more detailed statistics here.
  • Slovaks entering the territory of Italy need to complete a statement, but no COVID-19 negative test or self-isolation is required. Italy considers Slovakia a safe country, the Foreign Affairs Ministry reported.
  • More than 140 people collapsed during the weekend due to high temperatures. Rescuers helped with 87 cases on Saturday, August 8, mostly in the Žilina Region. There were 65 cases on August 9, the most in the Bratislava Region. (TASR)
  • Slovaks are traveling abroad less even after the opening of borders, the Tatra Banka data on card payments suggest. In the 10 most visited countries, the volume of card transactions fell by nearly 38 percent, while in Croatia they dropped by 47 percent and in Italy by 80 percent.
  • The annual drop in employment in industry continued in June 2020. It fell 6.3 percent year-on-year, for the 11th consecutive month. Before June 2019, employment in industry had been growing for nearly six years in a row, the Statistics Office data suggests.
  • No more than four US Armed members could serve on Slovakia’s territory from October. They should mostly fulfil tasks in training and consulting within the CIMIC – Civil-Military Cooperation, and the PSYOP – Psychological Operations, as stems from the documents submitted by the Defence Ministry for interdepartmental review.

Also on Spectator.sk today:

Related article Slovaks and poppies: An inseparable duo for centuries Read more 

Related article Fintech battlegrounds: Europe vs. the US Read more 

Related article The novel virus has brought new solutions for customers as well as a switch to online communication Read more 

Top stories

The New Stations of the Cross combine old and new.

New Stations of the Cross to combine surviving remains and contemporary architecture.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad