Good afternoon. Here is the Wednesday, March 22 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes
Second tranche of EU money for Slovakia released
NIKA head Lívia Vašáková. (Source: TASR - Martin Baumann)Slovakia received a second tranche of money under its EU-approved recovery plan on Wednesday, but further payments due later this year appear in doubt amid delays to reforms tied to the funding.
The €709 million payment received this week follows a first payment under the plan of nearly €399 million last summer.
Lívia Vašáková, head of the Recovery Plan Department at the Government Office, said that Slovakia is the fifth EU member state to have received a second payment.
The country is due to receive a total of €6 billion in grants as part of its post-Covid recovery plan.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
Travel: Hikers will soon find a new shelter in the Small Carpathians.
Business: Bratislava airport warns of fake airport websites.
Opinion: Country Coordinator of the UNICEF Emergency Response in Slovakia Michaela Bauer writes about the need to provide mental health support to children, especially those fleeing from Ukraine.
If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription with no ads and a print copy of The Slovak Spectator sent to your home in Slovakia. Thank you.
HOW TO SPEND YOUR SATURDAY
Market at Cvernovka
A garden outside the Nová Cvernovka building in Bratislava. (Source: Facebook/Nová Cvernovka)The Spring Cverna Market will take place at the Nová Cvernovka cultural centre in Bratislava on Saturday, March 25. Local studios, vendors, designers and artists will showcase their work and sell products. There will also be plenty of food and workshops for visitors.
Start: 10:00 at Račianska 78
Free: children under 15, Ukrainians
Admission: €5, but students and pensioners pay €2
Tomorrow, the Slovak Spectator will bring you a selection of events for the weekend and next week.
In a few lines:
People in Slovakia will lose an hour of sleep on Sunday morning as the country moves to Daylight Saving Time. The change was first introduced in Slovakia in 1979.
Slovakia will get 12 AH-1Z Viper helicopters from the USA after deciding to send its grounded MiG jets to Ukraine. The planes are still in Slovakia. The helicopters, for which Slovakia will pay around €300 million, should arrive in the next two years. In 2018, Slovakia bought 14 F-16 jets, the first of which should arrive at Slovak military airports next year.
The Financial Administration, a Slovak tax authority, pointed out that Ukrainian citizens must also file a tax return if they have worked in Slovakia. As with regular tax returns, the deadline is March 31.
The General Prosecutor's Office has refused to cancel charges against National Crime Agency investigators, though courts said their prosecution is unjustified. Police chief Štefan Hamran recently called on the Office to act.
The government has approved extensive changes to the Criminal Code. If passed in parliament, the Code will differentiate between drug users and drug producers for the first time. More severe penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol are also proposed. In total, more than 440 changes have been incorporated into the amended Criminal Code.
A lorry heading to Bratislava overturned on the D1 highway on March 22, 2023. All three lanes were blocked, and traffic in the opposite direction was also affected. Drivers were advised to use other roads through Voderady (to Bratislava) and Senec (to Trnava). (Source: Facebook/Bratislava Region Police)WEATHER FOR THURSDAY: Very warm with daytime temperature rising to 23°C. Light winds. (SHMÚ)
Thank you for subscribing and reading. It means a lot to us.
P.S. If you have suggestions on how our news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
Follow The Slovak Spectator on Facebook, Instagram (@slovakspectator) and Twitter (@slovakspectator).
